


Bringing Restoration

by Little_Marshmallows



Series: Legendary Protectors [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Different Regions, F/M, Saving the World, Team Plasma, Unova Region, evil team strikes again!, ughhhh I am sooo bad a tagging
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-07-23 01:36:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7461489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Marshmallows/pseuds/Little_Marshmallows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>2nd book in the Legendary Protector's series.</p><p>  1. The Carriers of Salvation<br/>2. Bringing Restoration</p><p>  A few years after coming home from her journeys, Dawn sets off on another one, one that will most likely change her life drastically. She meets up with three others and together they set off on their journey. Though things take a turn for the worse, the world is in turmoil.</p><p>  After the first incident solved in Johto, the seemingly neutral Unova crashes. It's not Team Rocket this time, but some other evil group, or is it? Devastation dusts the Unovian land with hunger and poverty, and there is no way that the Unovian citizens can protect themselves. How fast can the Legendary Protecors come to the call?</p><p>UPDATES EVERY MONDAY!</p><p>AWAY ON HOLIDAY, TEMPORARILY ON HOLD</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Prologue

July 1st 2006

A loud, firm knock echoed through the room. Giovanni sent a look to the admin who was standing before him. The admin gave him a slight bow and went to open the door. Standing there in the doorway was a grunt.

"Very sorry for the unexpected notice sir. We have important news that just came through that I thought you would want to hear, it's about Johto."

Interest spiked within Giovanni, it was noticeable as he sat up a little bit straighter, no longer casually slouching over. His Persian next to him meowed, interest taking it over as well. The Boss' eyes flicked over to his normal-type partner, the classy cat pokémon stood up and brushed its face along Giovanni's hand.

"Yes of course I would like to know. Come and tell me everything." His authoritative gaze was set on the admin. "Stand outside." He ordered.

"Yes sir." The admin bowed again and stepped out around the grunt, shutting the door with a quiet click. The grunt approached.

Giovanni sent another signal, indicating for the grunt to speak. The grunt cleared his throat. "It has been confirmed that Proton is dead. He died from fire inhalation during the attack at the main Johto base. His body was found. All missing grunts have been located either dead or alive aside from one. We have not seen nor heard of the body of agent number three-five-zero-eight-two, or also known as Kole Hagar. He was one of our most promising new field workers. However, other grunts have come forth and have spoken that agent three-five-zero-eight-two had attacked Admin Proton before his death along with the people who infiltrated the base. Mr. Kole Hagar ordered two different people to shoot Proton but only one did and that was located in the shoulder. We are unsure, but it's safe to say the bullet passed through the brachial artery and would have produced a lot of blood loss. This could have also had a big aid in his death." The grunt cleared his throat once more. "I am repeating myself, but Admin Proton died of smoke inhalation as his biopsy was conducted by Dr. Zegar. Dr. Zegar kept insisting that the smoke inhalation was the most prominent cause of his death, the origin of the fire was right next to him; it was made by a fire-type attack from Ho-Oh. He was found trapped under a large beam also. We have photos and copies of the biopsy papers if you would like to see them. Proton's body is still in our possession but should be laid to rest as soon as possible because of the condition of his post-death inflicted injuries. There is no chance of there being an open casket funeral for him."

"Who came forth as witnesses?" Giovanni asked, his hand stilled on his pokémon's head, no longer petting it.

The grunt spoke again. "The witnesses that have come forth are Attila Thompson, Hun Taylor, and Professor Sebastian.

Giovanni nodded slightly. "That's to be expected, they are promising members. Where are they now?"

"Professor Sebastian has returned and is well; he's working in the lab currently. Attila and Hun are resting in the hospital wing. Attila has a broken leg and a concussion, Hun has stated that Attila suffered these injuries by protecting him. Hun has a stab wound by metal that was sticking out in his abdomen and has inhaled a good amount of smoke." The grunt explained. "They were some of the first that we rushed to get."

"How is the issue in Unova working, do you have any knowledge of that?" Giovanni asked, one eyebrow raised as a hand moved up to his chin.

"The situation hasn't changed as of yet. Team Plasma is still at work."

Anger surged through Giovanni. "Understood. Inform Attila and Hun I will be visiting them soon, on second thought, might as well inform all of the members in the hospital, Professor Sebastian too."

"Right on it sir."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
July 3rd, 2006

Lyra groaned and sat up. There was a rush of blood to her head and it made her dizzy. Her head pounded and she lifted an arm to rub her hand across her forehead. A long silky sleeve flowed in the air with her movements. Her eyes narrowed as they traced the movements of the dress. The sleeve was long and orange which slowly faded into white with the help of a gradient. Feather-like tassels hung from the bottom, giving it a look which greatly resembled Ho-Oh's shimmering rainbow wings.

Lyra frowned as she stared at the sleeve. She knew that she didn't own anything remotely similar to this garment. What happened to her regular overalls and red long sleeved shirt? She opened her mouth in confusion. "Where...?"

"Do you remember what happened?" A deep voice asked, cutting her off in her wonder.

Lyra jumped, her hands quickly moving towards her chest instead of her head like she had originally planned. She slowly turned her head to the voice. Her frown deepened. "Why are you here?" She narrowed her light brown eyes.

Silver stared at her with his red eyed gaze. His head looked strange, maybe it was because his hair was up in a small low ponytail, she could see that it was greasy, as if he hadn't showered yet that day. She was kind of glad that her bobbed hair was at this length now. Which meant that Silver had longer hair than she did. Lyra realised that her hair was at a similar length to Serena's. "Why else would I be here? Johto isn't in danger anymore. Your plan worked. You were so exhausted that you've been asleep for a few days. You didn't get much sleep after what happened. You were up helping everybody after Celebi brought us back to 2006."

The memories came flooding back to her in an instant. "Oh right..." She trailed off. "But again, why are you here?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He repeated himself.

Lyra just stared. She didn't know what to think of his response or what to say in reply to that. Silver sighed and sat down in a plush white chair, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes were closed. "You've been asleep for three days. Everybody was concerned. Especially Ethan, Kris and I. We're the ones who have known you for the longest amount of time." He explained.

"Ethan and Kris are here too?" Lyra was surprised that they had stayed. Right now the whole group was taking refuge in Lyra and Khoury's apartment. Her eyes widened. "Khoury!" She shouted. "You said he was in the building, where is he now?" She demanded.

Silver quickly stood up and reached for her bedroom door, quickly avoiding her question. "Silver, where is Khoury?" He paused, sighing once more.

"Ask somebody else."

Nerves raced through her, her skin was dancing with the tingling numb feeling. "Where... is... Khoury?" She asked again.

"Silver looked in the opposite direction. "He's dead."

Her heart stopped and she felt nothing. "...What?" The room suddenly went cold, straight to black and white.

"Khoury died in the fire."

"What do you mean?" She asked. Her hands trembled as the gripped tightly onto her sheets. Her eyes prickled and stung from behind.

"Khoury was pretending to be a Rocket grunt." Silver spoke quickly, he was clearly trying to make this as fast as possible. "He was the one who attacked Proton. He was secretly working with the G-Men just like me, Kris, Ethan and even that kid Ritchie that some of your friends happened to know.

"He got hurt in the fire and refused to let anybody save him. He said that either way, he'd be dead soon. Whether it was from the fire or Giovanni." He explained. "He chose to die in the fire because it wasn't directly from Giovanni." Silver's hands went up to be tucked away in his pockets. A movement Lyra knew he did when he was feeling an emotion he wasn't proud of. His hands showed what he was feeling more than his face did. "He got me to stay with him for a bit longer until he made me leave. He wanted me to tell you something... but I don't think I should tell you. Not right now at least."

Her vision became blurred with tears as she tore her gaze away from Silver. "Will... will you ever tell me?" Her voice shook. She could feel him look away quickly. His sharp eyes no longer bored into her soul. She laughed slightly. At least she still had her soul.

"I'll pass it onto you someday. Possibly sooner than later." He promised. In one swift movement, he yanked the bedroom door open and left.

She nodded, not wanting to say anymore and finally let the tears spill. They burned her cheeks, red hot with anger and sadness. "What the hell Khoury." She gasped out. "Y-you promised to never leave. You said that best friends will never leave each other." She choked out a sob and quickly she buried her face into her white duvet. "What the hell?" Her heart felt as if it was stabbed through, searing with pain. She felt awful and only one thing could ever fix it. Only one thing could mend a broken heart.

And that was the thing that caused it.

"K-Khoury...!" She screamed into her blanket. "Why didn't he tell me?" She spat. "I was right next to him. I only spent months looking for him and he was right there, trying to help." Her throat burned and she began to hyperventilate a little. What was there to life when the one thing you cared about so much was gone, just like that? There was still a lot to live for; just a big chunk of her was gone. She had regions to still save, friends to care for, pokémon that depended on her, her mother.

"Why were you so selfish? I was searching for you! You know I'm too scared to follow you! Why did you have to be a hero? Why not somebody else? You-you asshole! I can't forgive you for being so stupid!"

It just hurt so god damned much.

July 3rd, 2006

Dawn stared at the blue-gray painted walls in Lyra and Khoury's home.

No, Lyra's home.

Gin or now as he fully revealed himself, Silver was the one who volunteered to check on her for the time being.

Dawn had cried when she first found out who the Rocket grunt really was. Ash kept it more to himself but he too cried, she knew, she was with him. Ever since, she and Ash had basically been inseparable. Everybody was dreading the time for when Lyra was to be told. Nobody wanted to take on that heartbreaking role. The two were best friends. They lived together and they were the first and last people they'd see in the day. They confided in each other the most and loved each other. No matter if it was platonic or romantic; they had a deep bond that anybody could see. Losing a friend hurt, losing your family hurt even more. Khoury was the main objective for Lyra to join the group of Legendary Protectors in the first place. All she wanted to do was find him and ensure he was safe because he was the one whose wellbeing was the most important to her. He had the greatest impact on her life and that was something that would not be easy to say goodbye to. To just stop existing.

Being dead was far from safe.

Dawn sat very closely to Ash. He really was trying his best to hide his mourning but it was just too difficult of a task for him. Misty could hardly give him any comfort, she didn't know Khoury. Dawn was the only one who could help him cope. Her heart ached painfully.

Ethan and Kris weren't much better off either. The two plus Silver and Ritchie had known him closely; hell they were in frequent contact with him as they were all G-Men of the Johto Division, they were a team. Dawn knew Lyra probably wasn't going to take their double lives with a spoonful of sugar and smiles. There was just another emotionally ridden confrontation brewing in the minds of many. What would come next? Dawn feared for Lyra, she feared that she might succumb to something she was stronger than because of this weakness.

Everyone who wasn't close to Khoury didn't experience the awful grief the rest were going through. They all tried to make distractions for the others, even Paul. He had tried very hard, coming up with different scenarios for them to do, even asking Ash for a battle which was strange in itself, and even stranger that Ash hadn't accepted, saying he wasn't in the mood.

But it was hard being distracted when you were in a place that breathed so heavily of Khoury. His personality was everywhere in the apartment. From framed pictures to random doodads scattered on shelves. He was definitely the one who has designed the place. It was mostly him with little splotches of Lyra in various spots.

Silver reappeared through the hallway and sat down on one of the free chairs that had been pulled out from the kitchen table. "She knows." He said suddenly. Dawn's heart plummeted.

Ethan sat up straighter from his spot on the carpeted floor. "You told her?" His eyes were completely focused on his red-haired friend and nobody else, as if they were the only two in the room.

Silver nodded. "She asked, so I told her. None of you need to worry about being the one to tell her about it anymore." That last comment helped Dawn's overworking brain cool down a bit. She didn't want to be the one to tell her friend. Her shoulders sagged again, there must be a heavy strain placed on Silver.

Ash shifted from beside her, he was squished between Misty and herself, he pressed furthered into Dawn's side, seeking the touch of somebody who was just as close to Khoury as he was. "How... how did she react?" He asked carefully.

Silver shrugged and rubbed his face, taking a few moments before replying. "I don't know, I wasn't looking. I didn't hear any crying so I think she's just in shock right now. But it'll ware off in a few seconds. I don't doubt she's crying now."

Dawn could feel a few sets of eyes staring at her uncomfortably. Paul was looking directly at her, so was May and Drew, though May's eyes occasionally flicked to Ash as well. She fidgeted and ran her fingers through her blue hair unconsciously, pulling free some knots. "Should I go in and see her?" She asked slowly, her voice quiet.

Silver glanced over at her. "No," he said quickly. His red eyes bored into hers. "She needs to mourn herself. Just leave her be for an hour or two. I doubt she'll eat anything now that she knows."

"That sounds like something she'd do." Kris added in. "We need to watch her to make sure everything is going alright in her brain despite knowing about... Khoury." She sighed. "She's definitely going to take it the hardest." She unconsciously buried herself in the chair she was sitting in, a blanket wrapped tightly around her to provide some comfort. "The funeral will be soon."

Ash let out a loud groan and pulled his knees up to his chest, hiding his face behind them. "Why did this have to happen?" He questioned in a muffled voice. "Why do we have to deal with this right now?"

Cilan cleared his throat and spoke up. "This is a war," he said solemnly. "Or at least we know for sure now it is. Team Rocket is no doubt creating the problems in the other regions too. I wouldn't be surprised if Diantha or any other champion will contact us soon to help direct us where to go from here. Three large regions, plus an archipelago are all in disarray."

"This is just something we need to overcome." May said. "There's a high chance that my whole family is dead, mother, father, brother. All of them. It's hard to just get over things so easily but it's something that's necessary. The sooner we figure out what to do from here, the better. I refuse to let any other families have to suffer like I do." There was another person that they knew that could be counted on the death list, Kenny. Three friends gone in the blink of an eye, and two very caring parents.

Dawn blinked. Through the whole problem in the Radio Tower, May had acted like a calm person because she had to, not because she wanted to. She helped vanquish Dawn's worries because they had other pressing matters to figure out first. She felt a wave of guilt rush through her. May was still suffering and she didn't show it because they had other, worse things put onto their shoulders. They were all still very much children, she herself was just sixteen and the oldest in the group was hardly twenty. She glanced at Cilan; she wondered how exactly he was faring. A thought occurred to her, what if he felt as if he was the one who ultimately had to protect them all. That was not something she was okay with. Cilan was just as fragile as the rest of them were. All of them were on par with their emotion range and right now nobody was really doing very well. The last few days had been draining, Lyra having slept for three herself because she had taken so much work tasked upon herself to do. She said that Johto was her home and she was to be the one who helped the most because she was obligated to do so. That was not something Dawn was okay with either.

A phone rang, Silver rubbed his face again, he seemed to be very stressed currently. He pulled his pokégear out of his pocket and looked down at it. His eyebrows creasing. "Shit." He muttered.

Ritchie stepped over to his older friend and looked down at the ID. "What would happen if you don't answer?" He asked.

"That's not an option."

"Is it—?"

Silver nodded, "My father, yeah." He stood up. "I'll try and come back for the fifth." The fifth. That was Khoury's scheduled funeral, to be held in New Bark town. "I'll sneak out again, not like he'd really notice."

July 5th, 2006

Leaf stared at herself. She was put back into the black dress she wore when she was younger, except it wasn't the same dress. She hated funerals. Then again, everyone did, they were not a fun experience. She envied the people who had not yet had to attend one. This funeral had to be a small and discreet one. There was no chance of an open casket in far that somebody would recognise his face and punish his family for his disobedience to Team Rocket.

A hand was placed on her bare shoulder. She stared in to the eyes of a long-time friend, or perhaps boyfriend, though the mirror. "You don't have to go you know." He said. Leaf wished for that to be a real option. She hadn't known who Khoury was, barely what he looked like, she was too shy to ask which one he was in the pictures in Lyra's apartment, it didn't seem appropriate.

"I'm not going to sit in a pokémon center all by myself while other people are upset. If I can help somebody in any way then I will."

"You've already been to enough funerals as it is,"

"It's been over ten years Gary." She said. "If you're asking me about this, I could be asking you the same thing. Are you okay with going to a funeral? We've both attended the same amount. My parents and my grandparents died ages ago. I want to help the others."

Gary held up four fingers, "Three in one plus another." He smiled at her softly and she smiled back.

"Let's hurry up and get this thing out of the way." She said. "The sooner it's over, the faster we can help people."

"Right!" Gary agreed, "It's our duty!"

*****

The ceremony was quite short, as explained that it is what Khoury had asked for while conversing with his father some time ago. It made Leaf wonder, did he know this was going to happen. By some chance he had told his father exactly what he would want to come out of a funeral, everything right down to the last detail such as what colour he wanted the tablecloths to be. Leaf could tell he was a very meticulous and defined person.

Despite Khoury being an only child with a single parent, also having a small family, there were lots of people there. Including the elite four, some gym leaders, Professor Elm, and Champion Lance. Lance had placed bodyguards, both outside the building and disguised as friends.

Lance had not so discreetly approached the others trying to talk with him, and by others, that meant the group of people who especially needed to be protected, all thirteen of them, not counting Ritchie, Kris, Ethan and Silver who had come back like he said he would. He followed Lyra around for most of the time, when he wasn't next to her as she was talking to others; he wouldn't be too far off watching. He was analysing and inspecting her every movement, whether it be her facial expressions to what food she would eat.

Ever since that final day on June 21st, 2006, the whole two weeks had gone by fast. The first week of people slowly coming back into the world of 2006 and not decades before to this week the finding of a body in the deep rubble, the sorrow of a death that lingered and hurt many people. It went from joy to heartbreak in a matter of days, like it was a snap of the planet's fingers.

Upbeat jazz music played in the background. It was like they were just partygoers for a business, a Christmas party. Despite the occasional tears and the fact that everybody was wearing a dark coloured garment that was much too fancy for a simple business party.

Leaf didn't know what to do at this point. The only people she really knew were Ash and Gary. The two were busy talking to people. Ash with somebody who was related to Khoury, and Gary to Professor Elm and his colleagues, this wasn't really the time for him to have a business conversation no matter how much the current atmosphere related to a work party.

It wasn't like this for neither her parents nor grandparents funerals. There was an early morning ceremony to celebrate their lives, a brief lunch and off to the place where they would finally lay. New Bark town wasn't far from Pallet, she had missed several anniversaries and she needed to make up for that.

"Hi." A voice said quietly next to her. Leaf looked over and her brown eyes were met with Serena's bright blue.

"Hello." She responded.

Serena had a drink in her hands, Leaf didn't think that the blonde girl beside her was quite old enough to drink yet, but Leaf didn't know exactly what Serena was like. From her past experience, she seemed to be pretty badass and brave, but compared to right now she seemed sweet, quiet, and shy. Serena must have noticed that Leaf was looking very pointedly at her drink; it was a deep red colour and it just so happened to be in a wine glass. Serena's face flushed and she held it up with a smile. "I'm not quite sure how to say it, but in French it's jus de canneberge."

The words were very similar to the ones she knew, she only spoke one language. "It's cranberry juice."

Serena bobbed her head, her hair swishing. "I knew it was something similar, unlike pamplemousse." She giggled.

"Pamplemousse?" Leaf questioned, badly butchering the pronunciation.

Serena laughed again. "Grapefruit!"

"Oh!" Serena was right; the two words were greatly different. "So you're from Kalos then I assume?"

Serena nodded again. It was easy to tell that she was in fact Kalosian, not only because of her naming her juice in French, but also because of her accent. It wasn't very heavy, she was easy to understand. "I was actually born in Kanto, but I've lived in Kalos since I was about six or seven." She shrugged. That explained her accent. "I lived in Pallet Town just like you, Gary, and Ash. I actually knew Ash when I was a kid too. We met at Professor Oak's summer camp one year."

"Really? That's cool!" Leaf responded with a smile, glancing back to the crowd of people.

"Do you think it's a bit too... cheerful? I mean I'd rather them be happy right now but it just doesn't fir the atmosphere we had to sit in before. I didn't really know Khoury either; I never met who he really was."

"Yeah, it seems a bit strange to me." Leaf confessed. "I've been to funerals before but none of them have been like this."

Serena nodded. "Yes but it's also a nice distraction for everyone, at least for now. In an hour or so..." She trailed off. "Even though I didn't really know him, I'll probably cry." She shrugged. "I don't like seeing others upset, especially to this degree."

"I agree."

July 6th, 2006

Iris rubbed her face as she sat in an open table at the pokémon center in Cherrygrove city. The town was hardly a city, but it was labeled as one. New Bark was just a couple of kilometers away, easy to walk to and from. The majority of the group was staying there in the pokémon center, everyone but Lyra was there. She was staying with her other friends, Kris and Ethan in one of their homes which were in the same small town. Silver had left almost immediately after the ceremony had finished. It was early in the morning; she expected a good majority of the group to still be fast asleep at this time. She was an early bird much compared to what people might see her as. There was no way for her to sleep in past maybe eight-thirty in the morning. She stared down at the coffee cup in front of her and the finished omelette she had cooked herself. She woke up and found herself to be in the mood for pidgey eggs. She found that they weren't as big as pidove eggs but tasted the same more or less. She took of her coffee and stared out the window. She yawned and rested her chin on her hand, using majority of her hand to cover her mouth after words. It was a dreary day so far, there was rain and it was generally dark, then again, it was early in the morning and after catching a glance of the weather on the television that was placed in the dining areas, it was scheduled to be just cloudy and humid. As much as she loved outdoors, her hair and humidity didn't exactly mix. Her scalp just felt gross and greasy even when it wasn't and her hair curled more than it usually did.

She watched as the reflection of somebody slid in the seat opposite of her. Iris immediately sat up straighter when she realised who it was.

"Hello Iris." The woman smiled kindly, her head tipping to the side ever so slightly.

Iris smiled back, "Hello Clair!" She responded. "You haven't gone back to Blackthorn City yet?" She asked.

Clair shook her head. "It may not be far but I just wasn't too keen on heading home just yet." She opened the lid to whatever her drink was, something steaming, coffee or tea. She took a small sip and looked back up to Iris. "How's Gible doing?"

Iris smiled broadly; she was giddy to tell Clair about the news. "Gible evolved!" She announced.

Clair laughed at Iris eagerness. "Really?" She asked. "I love it when a pokémon evolves; it just shows how strong it is with its trainer. You're one step closer to reaching your goal." She gave Iris a knowing smile. "Seeing as you are far away from your current position right now, Lance has tasked me with something." She rolled her eyes. "He made many attempts yesterday to get the attention of somebody within your group. I have unfortunate news for you." She frowned.

Iris narrowed her eyes, quickly glancing around. "Is this G-Men sourced?" She asked quietly.

Clair gave a quick discreet nod. "Team Plasma has made another attempt." Iris clenched her jaw. Clair stared at her fiercely. "The next stop for you is to head home."

Iris gripped onto the edge of the table. "When was this?"

"June third, three days ago. It was hidden from the news, only the other champions are aware. You are the last to know."

Iris cursed under hear breath. "I swear to Arceus that once I find one of them they will be punished. I have had enough of Ghetsis and his little growlithe. I'm going to be sent straight to the Distortion World once I'm dead." She cursed again. "I'll happily greet Giratina once this is over."

Clair shook her head. "There is no way you'll be the one paying Giratina a visit. That'll be all Ghetsis and his good friend." She looked around her as stood up slowly. "Indigo Plateau." She said simply. "Come as fast as you can."

Iris stood up as well, staring up at Clair. "We'll be there by today." She straightened herself out, her hands enveloped in tight fists. "I'll give Ghetsis a real fight, as if he were properly challenging the Unovian Champion."

Clair smiled down at her. "Make it known to him that all Dragon Masters are displeased, what's better than the strongest Dragon Champion herself?"

Iris laughed. "Oh it'll be engraved in his soul, believe it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter isn't exactly what I was hoping to write, but this is what came to me so here! Have it thrown at you!
> 
>  
> 
> What do you guys think of the start to the newest chapter? What do you think is happening? What do you think will happen?
> 
> Have a lovely week guys!


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
June 5th, 2006

Iris stormed up the stairs of the center. She pushed open the door that led to her room. She was sharing with the other five girls. She slammed the door open. The noise already causing one of the girls to wake up.

"Iris?" Misty muttered as she sat up groggily.

"Get up." Iris ordered. "We already have somewhere we need to go." She walked to the large window and threw open the curtains. This immediately gained some more groans from the sleeping girls.

"What are you doing?" May groaned and lifted her head slightly. "It's like six thirty in the morning.

"Get up." Iris repeated. Now walking to her bed and packing up her things. "Get everything ready, we're leaving."

Serena yawned and stretched her arms out wide. "Where are we going?" She asked.

"Unova," Iris responded curtly.

"What do you mean Unova?" Dawn asked. "Wasn't Unova a safe region?"

Iris glanced up at her and laughed. "Not anymore it's not." She swung her bag onto her shoulder. "I'm waking up the boys, get your stuff ready now, we're leaving as soon as possible." And with that she quickly walked out of the room, closing the door behind her and marched down the hallway of the pokémon center. Her eyes skimmed over the numbers before finding the right one and began to slam her fist against the door, making as much noise as she could to wake up the six that slept behind the strip of wood.

She heard various groans in between her knocking and a shuffle behind the door before it finally swung open, revealing her still very tired boyfriend who still looked impeccably dressed even in his striped pjs. "Iris?" He questioned. "What are you?" She brushed past Cilan and waltzed into the room. There was an open bed to her right as soon as she walked in which was most likely Cilan's bed. She grabbed the pillow off of it and turned to the next bed, a shirtless Gary who was really only wearing boxers. He was still fast asleep.

"It stinks in here." She declared and smashed the pillow directly onto his face. Gary jumped and sat up quickly.

"What the hell?" He grumbled.

"Get up!" She shouted. "We need to leave, now!"

"Iris," Cilan tried again, "What are you doing here?"

She turned and stared at him. "Unova." She said simply.

Cilan stared at her confused for a moment then his eyes widened. "What?" He hissed. "Again?" Iris just nodded. Surprisingly, Cilan actually cursed and hurried to his bed, already packed, he just had to grab his clothes for the day.

Ash gaped at the two of them; he was wide awake by now. He clambered out of his bed, tripping over his thrown sheets and scrambled to stand up. "Okay, what the heck is going on?" He demanded. "First of all, did you hear Cilan? He said shit! Cilan actually swore so that means I know this is serious and two, you're more feisty than usual."

Iris gave her friend a hard glare. "Do you even know what feisty means?"

"Yes!"

She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Just get up; the girls are already getting ready." She then pointed to Ash, "You give me your pokégear."

"What? No way! Why?" He spluttered.

"I need to contact Lyra." Iris stated simply.

Ash quickly shook his head, "No! Do it on your own!"

Iris groaned and threw her head back. "You're idiocy in the morning is worse than in the afternoon." She tilted her head back to where it was supposed to be and stared at Ash. "I would if I had her number. It's kinda hard to call her without it."

Ash's face visibly deflated. "Oh, yeah sure then." One of Iris' hands quickly shot up and she smacked herself in the face. Ash was digging through his bag and he placed the red pokégear in her hand. She turned it on and frowned.  
"There's a password on it?" She looked back up at him.

"Oh yeah right!" He scurried over again, quickly typing it in and handing it to her.

"His password's 6556." Paul said.

Ash whipped around to him. "Hey! How did you know?"

Paul pointed to the device in Iris' hands. "I watched you." He shrugged. "That's not a very good password anyway." Ash quickly reached for his pokégear again but Iris swung her arm away.

"You can change the password after. Get washed and dressed." She turned around. "Actually, all of you wash; at least one of you smells disgusting and really need to take a shower."

"That's Paul." Ash quickly said.

"Uh, no it's you." Drew added in. "It also Pikachu. You sleep together and both of your sweat mingling isn't very pleasant to smell."

"Sorry As, but it's true." Clemont said with a light laugh, "I've smelt this on more than one occasion in Kalos. Bonnie was the one that told you to go jump in the river."

Ash slouched over. "I thought that you out of everyone would be on my side."

Clemont gave his friend an apologetic smile, he shrugged his shoulders lightly. "Guess not."

Iris ignored the rest of the conversation and left the room in a swift motion, the noise level was too high for her to properly focus on the phone call. She made her way down the hallway and down into the main lobby. She searched through the countless names in his contact list, of course, Ash would be the type of person to collect numbers from people he's met only a couple of times in the past. The names were in alphabetical order.

May, Marley, Morrison....

Iris frowned, "To far." She muttered and scrolled back up, finally successfully finding Lyra's contact information paired with a photo of her hugging a Chickorita, she was clearly many years younger. Iris pressed the call button and quickly held it up to her ear. She was praying that Lyra would wake up from the noise and answer.

Ring... ring... ring...

Finally the ringing stopped and there was a muffled sound of what could be bed sheets. "Hello?"

"Lyra!" Iris exclaimed. "I have really important news; we need to leave for Unova, today."

There was silence on the other line. "...W-what?" She managed to say.

"We're leaving for Unova today, that's the next place we have to go to, the legendary protectors."

"I-I..." Lyra halted, taking a deep breath. "I don't think I can..." She admitted quietly. Iris froze at that statement. "It's too soon... after Khoury..." She continued on. "I'm a mess right now and I'll be even worse trying to help you. I... I think some time at home at least for now would be more helpful than I would be if I went with you right now... I'm really sorry about this."

Iris nodded her head quickly, afraid that she was taking too much time to respond. "No! That's completely understandable..." Iris replied. "I think that your health and happiness is an important key thing to keep in mind and I'm glad that you said so. You don't have to come with us to Unova."

There was more silence. Lyra then spoke again. "I feel really bad about this; I'll try and come to the next region if I can. At least we know that my help isn't really necessary because I already helped Johto."

"Don't feel bad!" Iris insisted. "If the same thing happened to me, I would be doing the exact same thing." Her heart clenched uncomfortably at the scenario. If Cilan was the one who... she didn't even want to think about it. "For now you should just relax and go back to being one-hundred percent!"

There was a laugh from the other side. "Thank you Iris. I should probably let you get ready to go though. I promise I'll see you all later, the next mission."

"You better keep that promise!" Iris agreed. "We'll keep in touch with you as much as we can okay, so don't you worry a little brown hair about us." And with that they bid each other farewell and Iris hung up.

As if on cue, she heard the chatter of some of the boys coming down the stairs. She smiled as she saw Cilan with them. A few girls were scattered in the group, namely Serena, Leaf and Misty. Dawn and May were nowhere to be seen. Neither was Ash. She laughed a little; glad he was most likely now taking a shower.

Cilan spotted her and led the group towards her, a bag slung over his shoulders. Before, when they first started traveling together and with Ash, he would always offer to carry her bag and she would always decline. She didn't need help. She was capable of doing a simple task such as carrying her bag.

He stepped next to her and she smiled up at him. "Would you like to carry my bag?"

He blinked, then furrowed his brows slightly, "If you would like me to I can." He was clearly surprised at her question, oblivious that it was a joke.

"No, I can do it myself." She replied, her smile growing.

Cilan shook his head and laughed at her. "Of course you can."

Misty stepped up next to Iris. "You know Cilan; you can always carry my bag if you want." She grinned and took off one of her bag straps. "Ash isn't that nice to me. He always tells me to carry my own bag. You know medical supplies can be heavy."

"I can do that." He agreed. "But Ash might get jealous." He teased.

"Even better!" Misty exclaimed. "Then he'll want to carry it himself!"

Iris laughed. "We should try that and see if he actually does it!" She looked back up at her boyfriend, curse him for being tall and giving her a pain in her neck. "Please Cilan?"

He shrugged. "I suppose so. It would be funny to see." He holdout his hand for Misty to place her bag in it.

She slung the other red strap off of her shoulder and handed the yellow bag over. "We're so mean I love it!" She chuckled. Cilan grabbed the bag and slung it over his shoulder.

There were loud footsteps banging from the stairwell, fast footsteps. Iris jerked her attention toward it like much of the people who were awake in the pokémon center. Ash leaped down his final three steps and Dawn scurried down after him, May wasn't too far behind.

"Aha!" He shouted. "I won! And guess who got last? May!" He pointed at her and let out a loud laugh. "I told you!"

"Oh shut up!" She smacked his hand away. "We've already proven that I'm faster than you, it's not fair that you can skip four steps at a time with your gangly legs."

Ash bent over and poked her legs. "I'm glad I don't have legs as short as a skitty!"

"Shut up Ash!" She exclaimed again.

"How about you all shut up?" Paul's voice boomed. "We need to go so get your asses going and out the door!"

May sauntered up to him and poked him in the chest. "You know, that's a very dad thing to say, practicing?"

Paul ignored her and was the first one to leave. He was right, they did have to go. She grabbed Cilan's hand, shooting Misty and smile and dragged him to the door, she knew where they were going and she wanted to lead the way this time.

 

June 7th, 2006

Clemont stared at the tall looming building in awe. The building he was looking at was none other than the Indigo Plateau. The league building for both Kanto and Johto. Being a gym leader, the only league building he had ever visited in was the one in Kalos. The Indigo Plateau was a tall tower, the Kalos league was only two stories, this one seemed to be six or seven, possibly eight stories tall. Four for the elite four, one for the champion, and the other three could hold offices for the elite four and the champion and most likely the G-Men.

"Wait, so the mysterious destination was the Indigo League?" Leaf asked.

"That's right." Iris agreed. "We're meeting a friend who can help us here. Then we're catching a plane directly from here to Mistralton City. Then we're taking a train to get to Opelucid City and from there to the Unova League."

"You really have this all planned out." Ash said, adjusting the two bags he was carrying.

"Because I know exactly what we are doing." Iris stepped forward, casually pushing open the front door.

Clemont was in awe again. It was just as amazing inside as it was outside. It had a very old fashioned theme to it, yet it was also regal. There were many staircases that lead up to a third, balcony type area. The people working at the pokémon center and pokémon mart inside gave nods to the group as they were busy restocking their supplies. Iris stepped up to the two body guards who were on either side of a metal door. They stepped up closely beside her. Cilan wasn't too far behind, providing a barrier for Iris from the others. Clemont found it strange. He could see the guards nodding to them and they stepped aside, opening the door and allowing the group to proceed through.

"I haven't been here in almost eight years." He heard Ash mutter, there was also a quiet agreement from Gary and Misty.

The hallway was nice and there was a set of stairs that led up to an open door. Clemont was near the front of the group, behind Ash who had Misty next to him and Leaf and Gary in front of them while Iris and Cilan led the way. Paul was walking next to him. Clemont felt a little intimidated.

The first room they stepped into was Will's. He was a psychic type trainer. The room was purple everywhere. A big purple themed battle field was in the middle of the room. He could see little clear glass-like cubes floating around above them, too high for people to reach. They quickly sped through the room and up another set of stairs and into the next.

The next room looked like a dark forest. There was hardly any lighting and whether it was sound effect or real, pokémon cries and rustling could be heard from the small forest. This was Koga's room. A Venomoth flew past them. A shriek echoed around the room and Misty made a mad dash for the stairs. He could hear Ash sigh and he ran after her. "She's still scared of bugs?" Gary wondered.

As they stepped into the third room, Clemont could feel heat press against him much like the fire he had experienced only a few weeks ago. The fighting-type elite four's room, Bruno. There was what looked like to be real magma flowing under some kind of protective clear barrier. The heat was sweltering and choked Clemont. He could feel the sweat begin to for on his lower back and pressed uncomfortably against his jumpsuit thanks to his backpack.

The fourth room was dark as well. Accommodating for Karen's dark type speciality. Large curtains were drawn open in the middle of the room to reveal another purple battling field. Large blue crystals jutted out from the depts. of a pit. The room had a very elegant and feminine feel to it. It even seemed like a performance hall.

There was one final, very large staircase. This staircase led to another hall which occupied anther smaller staircase. This door was open as well. The room was gold. Gold flooring, gold walls, gold statues of tough looking dragons that screamed strength. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling and there was a red carpet that ran down the length of the room. There was an elevated platform that had another field on it.

The stairs were gold as well. Clemont could see a person standing at the top of the stairs, on the platform. His back was facing them. Everybody in the world could recognise the man standing there. He had a long flowing cape and dull red hair.

The Indigo and Johto League Champion, Lance Grayson.

"Hello Iris." He said and slowly turned around. He looked like a Hoothoot or a Rowlet. He turned the rest of his body and stood still. A blank look on his face.

Iris nodded to him. "Lance." She greeted.

His powerful gaze swept over the group of people standing before him. "Is this all?"

"All minus one, plus an extra that is trusted. She was a prisoner or so to say." Iris explained. "Lyra Stevens is the one missing. You would know why I presume?"

There was a pondering look that swept onto Lance's face. He then nodded. "Agent Khoury Noisi?"

"Yes."

Again, Lance nodded. "Understandable." He looked behind him. "We should proceed up to my main office where it's more private." His cape whirled around as he turned. Iris proceed up the gilded stairs, climbing up them like she had taken the steps many times.

Clemont blinked and scurried up the steps himself. Being careful as if he could actually break the specular surface.

Everybody was quiet now, more so than before. Lance's embodiment powered over everything and nobody dared to say a word in fear of disrespecting him.

He led them past the hall of fame and towards an elevator that was hidden in the wall. There was a pass code that he punched in and the sound of the moving elevator entered his ears.

There was a quiet ding and the door opened. The elevator was large. "We can all fit inside," Lance explained. "This elevator is one of three; they're all big to accommodate large numbers of G-Men." He stepped in first, closely followed by Iris and Cilan, like they had done the whole time.

The elevator dinged as it reached their destination floor, the top floor. Clemont blinked, he was standing nearest to the door in the slightly now crowded elevator. "Off here." Lance instructed. Clemont gave him a slight nod and stepped out, waiting patiently for them to be led to the correct area again. Lance made his way to the front and started walking towards a corner, where it held a hallway, a long hallway.

Down this hallway were pictures of past champions. He read through the names, a few he knew, such as none other than Charles Goodshow, Blue Oak who was an uncle of Gary, related to his grandfather as a brother. Lance was on the wall only once, before Blue. When Blue had unexpectedly passed, Lance took over the role of being the Champion again, though there wasn't another picture like there should have been. Clemont blinked. After Blue was a man with dark black hair, Red Papenbrook. He didn't know of a Red Papenbrook, he had never heard of this name. Ash paused next to him, looking at the picture. Clemont looked to Ash; his eyes were narrowed as he stared at the picture. Ash turned and continued to walk, leaving Clemont by himself. Serena then approached him. He glanced to her, the group was still moving. "Who is this?" He asked and pointed to the picture. "I don't remember him."

Serena frowned. "Red Papenbrook?" She pronounced. "I've never heard of him either. Lance took over again after I moved." She shrugged. "We would've known about a new champion though." She took in every aspect of the picture. "Maybe he back down from the position?"

"Maybe..." Clemont agreed. He glanced back at the group who were filing into a room, "We should hurry." He said and carefully picked his way over, Serena beside him.

The room was fairly large also. The walls were a gleaming royal white with arching windows. The room had a very regal dragonesque feeling to it. There were little dragon decals around the room, added by Lance most likely. Some of his personal belongings.

Lance sat at the head of his desk, gesturing quite familiarly to Iris to pull up a seat next to him. Clemont felt himself frown again. Why was Iris allowed to sit next to the Kanto and Johto Champion? Lance then gestured for people to get comfortable around them. There were various chairs, they looked as if they were placed there on purpose because there was just enough for everybody to sit in a semi-circle around the desk.

Lance looked to Iris and she took a breath, he could see Cilan flash her a look and she gave him a gentle smile, rising to her feet. "I have to share something with you all, which none of you know, aside from Cilan because this is top secret information directly involving the Unovian League." Her formalities were confusing; Iris didn't normally speak like this. He could see Ash lean forwards in his chair, clearly indicating his interest.

"I don't know?" He asked calmly.

Iris shook her head. "No you do not. Nobody was really to be informed, Cilan knows because he too works in the Unovian League. He previously ran a gym with his two brothers and since has closed it down in replacement for a restaurant in the past few months. What I am about to tell you has happened before he closed down the gym and before we had stopped communicating with each other." She held her posture firmly, showing no signs of fear or contemplation. "Alder Ray is no longer the Champion of Unova. He was defeated in a fair battle on the twenty-second of November of the last year."

Ash shifted again, his arms moving to cross over his chest. "No way, really?" He asked. "So Unova has a new champion and they kept it secret from the other regions?"

"Yes and no," Iris stated. "The other champions are aware of the new champion but no gym leaders from separate regions are aware. And I know you will ask, 'who is the new champion'?"

The thought sliced through Clemont's mind and he jerked to sit up straighter. Iris' chocolate eyes danced over to him and a smile graced her lips with a small laugh. "You figured out who already Clemont?"

"I've been thinking over things for a while and I just understood why everything seemed to be so... weird. I do know who it is now. You can announce it; I know you're wanting to."

Iris smile grew, "I am very keen on doing so, thank you Clemont." She cleared her throat and stood up a bit straighter. "The new champion of Unova is me, Iris Arifiani."

The room was quiet, nobody spoke. Suddenly there was a loud shout, from the only person in the room who could make that much noise.

"Wait!" Ash yelled, "It's you?"

Iris gave him a sheepish look, "I wouldn't have said otherwise if I wasn't. Again, sorry for not telling you but it was necessary and I expect this information to not leak into any other leagues." At this, she was looking very directly at a few people, namely Clemont, Misty and even Gary. The people in the room who had direct contact with the league or an important person who was close with the league himself.

"Now that that's over with," Lance started, shifting in his seat. "Let's get to the point of your next mission."

"Mission...?" Serena asked. "Why call it a mission?" She shifted, uncomfortable under the eyes of many, Clemont sympathised for her. "We're just ordinary people doing what we should. If we're granted to be a protector, it's our duty to protect them."

Lance smiled at her. "You saved a region, and you have more to save after it. All of the incidents occurring in the other regions can't just be a coincidence to happen." His face turned serious. "There's a common goal that is to happen for each region and that is for it to be abolished. For the wrong side to take lead."

"We're going to Unova because there has been attack; this is the third one in the past few months. When refugees were coming, Unova was unprepared, I hardly got a say in the matter when Alder gave them the go. Everyone was under the assumption that Unova was doing fine and that it was facing no sense doom. Unova didn't give out what was happening. It was a secret. Unova is a proud region and we don't want to ask for help from the others, plus these attacks were from our own region, Unova's having a civil war." Iris explained.

"This is the third time Team Plasma has dome this to the region." Cilan said lowly. "I've done some researching on it." He admitted. "From what I can tell, over the course of five years Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem had two previous protectors each. We are still in contact with all six of them."

"I thought you said you ran a café with Cress and Chili?" Ash questioned.

"That was said because we were not in a safe place to properly explain things. Yes I run a restaurant with my two brothers, but the three of us also still continue to work with the league. You can't just close down a gym; you know too much important information. To be frank, I'm surprised that none of the past gym leaders have been targeted, more than one has backed down from their positions. Leona and Brycen have left as well. Leona is looking to have a family and run the museum with her husband and Brycen is focusing on his career as an actor." Cilan spoke.

"That could've happened." Iris said slowly. "All I have been informed of was that there was an attack." She glanced at Lance. "I'm sure that you weren't informed on much either. If Alder and Drayden are in charge right now they wouldn't disclose anything to you."

Lance shook his head. "They knew you went to Kalos and contacted Diantha who had said that you were here, thus they contacted us and we happened to see you at the funeral. Clair ended up being the one who informed you, I had to come back here." He abruptly stood up. "Now that you're aware of what's happening in Unova, we should send you off as soon as we can."

Iris stood up herself. "Right, let's go then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my exams are in two weeks so next week I'll post a chapter but not the week after. I kinda need to study really well for them because it's math and science and they aren't exactly my strongest area... Plus they're right after each other soooo barely any time for studying!
> 
> Also, just to give you a heads up, in a little over a month I'm going to be travelling in the summer for two weeks, it's the first two weeks of August, and the start of the third, so there won't be any updates then because who knows if I'll have wifi? Even if I do have it I will hardly ever be at the place I'm staying and will be out doing other things. I'll still try and write a few chapters every now and then.
> 
> Good luck on those who also have to suffer with exams!


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

June 7th, 2006

The plane was sleek and pale. It wasn't too large to attract attention, but it was bigger than the one they used to fly from Kalos to Johto. May would be lying if she said that she didn't feel giddy to go to the next place. The thrill and adrenaline from the Radio Tower was exhilarating. The fear was also fun, like a haunted house. But the concept of why they were afraid, and why they were running clearly wasn't fun. That dread of it brought her back down to reality.

Lance stared at them all. "Again, this is going directly to Mistralton City, Unova. Skyla will meet you as soon as the plane lands."

Iris gave him a nod. "Perfect." She glanced at her friends. "Start going in."

May nodded to Drew and took the first step onto the plane. The inside was nice, as to be expected from the Indigo League. Since it ran two regions, it had the most money. The money that the league received came from the region's taxes. Kalos was a close second by the sheer size and population.

The planes they took from Hoenn to Kalos were large commercial jets. It was a wonder that not as many evacuating planes or ships had been lost, the grand total was three, and it was only ships. They came from Sootopolis, Mossdeep and Mauville.

She took a spot near the middle of the plane. She sat near the window; she wanted to see the retreating region when they took off. Ash slid in next to her, moving Pikachu to carefully sit on his lap, with Clemont on his other side. Dawn took the seat in front with Serena and the two coaxed Leaf to come with them. Iris sat at the very front, Lance had assigned G- Men to come and help, whether she liked it or not.

There was only a handful of G-Men. Not a drastic amount. The ones who were traveling with them were to serve as a protection not to show that Kanto wishes to interfere with the workings of Unova.

Other than Iris and Cilan, the others were all packed together.

The plane jerked forward as they quickly fastened their belts. May glanced out the window, watching as various things were passed by as they were moving forward.

There were lights blinking on the runway but it wasn't really necessary as the sun hung above them in the blue sky.

The plane had an odd hanging feeling as they smoothly transitioned from pavement to air. May smiled slightly at the feeling. Her stomach lurched as they were propelled upward. It felt like they were on a roller coaster. May glanced over to the two on her left. Ash was staring straight ahead. He's been on countless planes in the past; he was calmly chewing on a piece of gum. Clemont on the other hand was fiddling with his fingers. He stared down at his lap and barely moved aside from that.

May's ears painfully popped and she sat up straighter from the shock. She forgot that that would happen.

The clouds passed serenely by. They were very plush at this time. Quiet chatter broke through the silence of the plane. Most of the quiet murmurs were coming near the front of the plane. Iris and the others.

May turned to Ash hoping to start up a conversation. "Is Unova nice?" She asked.

Ash nodded. "Every region is nice. Unova's very industrial compared to the rest. Lots of big cities compared to towns." He scratched his head. "Really though I think the most memorable thing about Unova is the pokémon." He glanced over at her. "You haven't met any of my Unova pokémon have you? Then again you also didn't meet some from when we travelled before. Anyway, the reason why Unova pokémon are the most memorable is because they're so different." He held up Pikachu as for an example.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu squirmed in Ash's grasp for a moment and relaxed once Ash set him back down and scratched at his ears dutifully.

"I've seen pictures of some, and the ones Iris and Cilan have, how are they so different? Wouldn't any new pokémon be memorable?" She asked.

"Well yeah," Ash agreed, "But... I don't know how to explain it but they're just...."

"Weird?" Dawn added. She had turned around in her seat to look back at them, the use of seatbelts unnecessary now.

"That's the best way I can explain them really." He nodded. "I've been to most of the regions and any pokémon from any region can just fit together so well with any other, visually and just the way they act. Unova's pokémon just don't I guess." May thought this over, what he said was confusing, but it did make sense. "Before I left for Kalos I took a picture with all my pokémon, I think I have it on my pokégear but I'm not sure, my Unova pokémon just stick out, but not in a bad way."

*****

June 7th, 2006

The plane ride was actually quite short; Unova was fairly close to Kanto, only needing to fly over Kalos to reach it instead of a whole ocean like it took from Hoenn to Kalos. During the two and a half hour flight, Ash continued on with his talk of what Unova was like and his experiences. Mostly everybody who was within earshot was interested. The murmurs between Iris, Cilan and the Johto-Kanto Division G-Men had subsided and they remained quiet for the majority of the flight.

At one point in the flight, the plane caught some turbulence and shook violently in the sky. Everybody's heart raced but soon enough calmed down once the rough wind passed.

There was a beep and that silenced Ash in his speaking, "We'll be arriving in Mistralton City in under five minutes, please fasten your seatbelts to assure you a safe landing."

Dawn blinked and turned back around to face the front, turning to her side and pulling the belt across. She looked to her right and out the window. She could see a city in the distance with a large runway, obviously meant for incoming planes. A forest dotted the perimeter of the city along with a large rock structure on one side.

Dawn remembered Mistralton City fairly well, it was the city she arrived in when she travelled to Unova in 2005, the year prior when she met up with Ash, Cilan and Iris and even the Sinnoh Champion. She didn't remember seeing any of the Mistralton gym leader, who was supposed to greet them upon landing.

The plane bounced repeatedly as it landed on the black paved runway. The plane was still zipping along the strip, barely slowing.

Eventually there was a screech and the plane halted, jerking Dawn forward. She could see that the same thing happened to both Serena and Leaf who were sitting in the same row as her.

The whole group waited for a moment. Iris began talking to the G-Men and Cilan. Nobody moved until they did and just sat in silence. As soon as Iris got up, then did the others as well. She looked back to the others, as if checking that they were all still there. "The next plane should only be forty-five minutes or maybe thirty-five. Realistically, the sixth gym is here so the league is only about three cities away plus a small mountain range. Our region isn't extremely large so it really shouldn't be all that long." She glanced back to the now standing G-Men and told them to go outside along with Cilan so he could greet the flying-type gym leader. She walked over to her group of friends and sighed as she slouched over. "I hate being professional..." She confessed and straightened herself back up. "Do you think we could all fit into a helicopter? Or would a plane be better?" She held up a hand and began to count off of her fingers, "There's twelve of us and like five G-Men so then nineteen? Would that fit in a helicopter?"

"Helicopters usually fit six people plus a pilot." Clemont said, "So probably not."

"Okay plane it is then." She replied with a nod. "Man I wish Lance didn't send those G-Men; he mostly wants to inspect how Unova is run than to actually help." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, let's hurry and get going, who knows how much longer the league can stand until I'm back."

Ash stood up, hitting his head off of the carry compartment. He winced and rubbed it, "What about Alder? He's the temporary champion right?"

"Yes," Iris agreed, "but now that he's lost his title he can only do so much and no matter what his past was with the league, the Four Heavenly Kings and our G-Men can't listen to just any order from him until I oversee it and I couldn't do that while we were in Johto, I had more pressing matters on my mind." She reasoned.

Ash nodded and pulled his hand away from his head, bending down to pick up that hat that he had dropped, "Yeah I get that then." He smiled at her, "It's good to know this for when I become a champion!" He paused, "Wait, since when did the title of Elite Four change?"

"The Four Heavenly Kings has always been the base name for the Elite Four in any region; it's just been shortened to Elite Four and is now more widely known." Iris laughed at him. "Just rule however you'd like so long as it doesn't harm anybody in the process. Come on let's go now."

Dawn blinked as she caught sight of a tall, pink haired woman. "Hi Iris!" The woman greeted.

"Hey Skyla!" Ash practically shouted and scurried past everybody like an excited growlithe.

Skyla's smile fathered for a moment then recognition sprouted through her, "Hey, I remember you!" She then brought her hand up to rub her cheek, "But..." She dragged out, "I don't remember your name." She admitted sheepishly. "You look quite different and quite honestly I probably wouldn't remember you if it wasn't for the pikachu on your shoulder."

"Pika!" Pikachu leaned closer to Ash's face and gave him a smug look.

Ash rolled his eyes at his partner and pushed his face away, "Oh shut up." He complained. Pikachu stuck his tongue out and snatched the hat off of his trainer's head, carefully placing it on his own.

"Pika pika chu pikachu." The electric mouse muttered.

Skyla laughed at the exchange between trainer and pokémon the turned and pointed down the runway, "We're taking the small jet over there, it's usually used for transporting goods but it'll be perfect for today's flight."

Paul frowned; he was standing not too far off from Dawn, but to her side. "We're taking a flight in a carrier plane? Where the hell are we going to sit?"

Skylab inked, seemingly a little unhappy at his rude comment. "This plane can have seats installed, it's a perfectly safe plane, my grandfather designed and built it himself."

"So it's an old plane as well, wonderful." He said dryly.

Skyla pursed her lips, "Yes, it is an older plane but it will still last for many more years to come. I come from a family of engineers and pilots, I know what I'm doing thank you." Paul gave her a look but said no more, calmly folding his arms over his chest.

Dawn scuffed at the ground, of course an exchange like that would happen.

Serena clapped her hands together hoping to break through the awkward tension that was brought on. "Well I'm really excited so see at least a little bit more of Unova so when are we leaving?"

Skyla formed her mouth back into a smile. "We're leaving as soon as I'm given the go."

"Then right now will be great then, right?" Cilan asked.

The pink haired pilot nodded to him, "Yes of course!" Skyla turned and preceded down towards the new plane, the group trailed after her.

After a few minutes, everybody was set on the plane and it took to the sky. Greens and blues rushed past, bringing gray old-fashioned and modern cities as well. Dawn stared in awe as she saw a large series of spaces near them, all representing a different type, most noticeably the different gyms. The old gyms still had their monuments up, like the trio badge which she recognised as the one Ash had gotten from Cilan a few years ago. Rocks littered the beautiful scene however and a pang of sadness passed through her. Not many people could pass through it anymore she assumed, not many or none at all.

A tall and gorgeous building loomed in the distance and Dawn couldn't hold back her gasp. She had taken a seat next to Paul this time. He was the one sitting near the window and she was practically leaning over him to look outside. She could see him glance over at her for a moment, with what seemed to be a small smile, if that was at all possible. She didn't pay him any mind, too busy entranced by the Unovian Pokémon League building.

It looked like a large coliseum. Its dazzling cream-white bricks and pillars accompanied by a curved green roof with golden accents. It was much more pleasant to look at compared to the Indigo League.

There was a circular archway-like building in the front of the League. It was made of the same cream stone and also was decorated with gold.

The stairway leading to the building was vast and excessive; she was glad that they didn't have to walk.

The plane began to lower closer to the ground. The league sat on a flat plane of a dry dusty brown mountain, dirt flew everywhere making a cloud around them. The more the plane lowered, the more excited Dawn felt. She couldn't wait to see the inside of the building, she was dying to know if it was just as marvellous inside as it was outside.

At this point, Dawn sat back, feeling that it would be safer to do so as they landed. She glanced over at Paul and caught his gray gaze. She beamed at him. "Isn't it pretty?" She asked.

Paul looked back out the window and shrugged. "I suppose so. Sinnoh's looks better in my opinion."

Dawn nodded; she had to agree with him there. The Pokémon League back home was very castle-like, giving off a regal feeling with a dazzling waterfall just before it.

Once again, she felt the jerk of the landing plane as it bounced before coming to a complete halt. Everyone was silent, acting on autopilot, business-like because now the issue they were here to fix should be the main thing concerning them. The unbuckled their seatbelts and stepped off. Dawn coughed from the still floating cloud of dust and dirt.

Iris stepped around themand made her way towards the building, silently telling them to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't bother editing this chapter, oops? If you spot a really bad mistake just leave a comment on where it is.
> 
> My exams are done and I'm out of school hurray! This chapter's fairrly short and I find it kind of boring so I just left it at this and the next chapter will be more info filled.
> 
> I came across Bird Keeper Toby's video and I really liked how he planned out the map so this is how I imagine the pokemon world is now (Minus Alola), the link to the video is https://youtu.be/7E1aI4tDgDA and it's titled "Pokemon Theory" - Where Are All The Regions if you'd rather search that if the link isn't working.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

June 7th, 2006

Drew stepped inside the building; well it wasn't much of a building so far. All around them were just pillars and pillars and more pillars, no walls. A tall statue stood bravely in the middle of the wide expanse of the entrance as well and four different stairways all leading to different directions. All at once, the four doors at the top of these stairways slammed open, around them a blue light flashed. A circle of light appeared around the dragon and began to pulse steadily with light. The four people walked down the stairways, two women and two men.

He could see that Iris tried hard not to fix her posture again, but straightened out unnecessarily nonetheless. The four people stood before her and each gave her a nod in acknowledgement. "Welcome back Iris." The blonde woman said with a sleepy smile.

"Thank you Caitlin." She responded. "As you know I went to Kalos for a bit, then to Johto for reasons which I assume you were told by Diantha?"

A burly man with short orange hair shook his head. "Diantha didn't say much to us, just that you were off doing business in Johto." His Unovian accent was thick. The blonde woman as well as Iris and Cilan had less prominent ones.

Iris nodded. "Right... okay. I'll tell you all in my office then. Is Alder there?" She queried.

The other man shrugged, he had dark hair and was quite lanky and tall. His outfit just emphasised his appearance tenfold by being both tight on the legs and loose on the body. "He should be, but really there's no tracking him."

"There is a way to track him." The purple haired woman said and she adjusted her glassed, giving a pointed look to the blonde woman.

Caitlin blinked at her. "Oh...!" She said in realisation. "You're asking me to look." Her voice was light and faint, as if she was captured in a dream. "I'll peek in then." She closed her eyes and opened them after a few dragging moments. "He's sleeping with Boufflant on the floor." She deadpanned.

The burly man grunted. "Of course he is." He spat. "He's been such a help since you were gone."

Iris smiled. "I can understand that you've been frustrated Marshall."

The darker man dramatically swept his hand through his hair. "You may be young and unconfident in your skills yet Iris, but you are already a far better champion than that man is."

The woman next to him shoved him. "Don't be rude Grimsley, he was our former boss and we should still show him continuous respect."

"Shauntel," he sighed, "You were the one who disliked him the most." Grimsley rebuked.

Iris held up her hands to try and stop the adults from arguing any further. "Alright, let's just go and wake him up and we can all discuss what is going on." She then turned to the G-Men, "I'll have one of the guards down here escort you to the main G-Men workplace and you may work there until I place you all somewhere permanently for as long as you are to be staying here." The one who gave her any sort of acknowledgement was the presumed leader, or at least in Drew's eyes.

Iris nodded, "Right then; let's go downstairs." She stood before the giant statue in the center of the room. The blue flashing ring around it froze and shone a constant glow. She gestured for everybody to step in the glowing circle next to the dragon statue. Drew stepped on, cramped between Clemont and Ash. The statue jerked and light flashed up around them, disappearing into the air like the residue of a flame. Slowly, the statue descended downwards.

Drew watched as the sunlight became scarcer the further they went down. They were surrounded by concrete and each other. Suddenly, when it seemed as if the light from above was practically gone, light tickled on the toes of their shoes and following that was the reveal of a golden tiles floor, and yet another staircase.

Iris stepped off and her boyfriend and the other elite flanked her on all sides except for front. "Alder is sleeping on a couch he brought down here." Caitlin said. "Though Boufflant is on it as well as he is..."

"Iris!" Ash shouted, startling Serena who was next to him, Clemont had gravitated to them as well. He had also jumped from his friend's sudden outburst and his cheeks were stained red like cheri berries. Iris turned towards him, tilting her head to the side ever so slightly like a poochyena. "Can I see you chamber?" He asked giddily, almost vibrating with excitement. "It's so cool that you get your own place! Did you redesign it for yourself? Because I know that most leagues let that happen for the new champions!"

Iris smiled at him, it looked gentle. She shook her head with a small sigh. "My chamber is right up here Ash, it's where Alder is resting. I did make a layout plan for it, though I'm unsure if it's been completed let alone started."

"It's done." Shauntel confirmed. "I made sure that it would be finished in time for your return, whenever you were planning on coming home. I just gave them a week timeframe." She shrugged.

Iris grinned and turned back to Ash, "Well there's your answer!"

"Cool!" He sprinted up to Cilan and began to quickly start up a conversation with him. Pikachu leaped off of his shoulder and scurried over to Iris who happily picked him up. She scratched his chin.

"I have even more pokémon that you don't know about Pikachu! Are you excited to meet them?" She asked.

"Pika!"

"More pokémon?" Ash perked up. "I gotta see them too!"

Drew sighed and rubbed his forehead, a headache was coming on. "He's basically a pokémon himself isn't he?"

"He is," Misty agreed and walked back to him. "My boyfriend is a pokémon, how lovely right?" She winked at him. "Just means I can train him." Drew made a face at her and Misty laughed heartily. "I'm kidding!" She defended herself.

The group continued on, halfway up the stairs, Drew could see a large, moving mural on the back wall depicting the solar system. There was another tone statue of a dragon with wide wings and a curling tail. Then there before it was a sleeping heap of hair. Drew wrinkled his nose.

"Alder!" Marshall's voice boomed loudly around them in the high ceiling. At once Alder jumped up with his Boufflant right beside him. He had one arm extended outright and pointed directly to the group.

Alder blinked, once, twice, three times before finally realizing who it was and lowered his arm with a dramatic sigh and slumped forward. "You gave me a heart attack Marshall!" In an instant his demeanour changed and he stood upright with a wide closed eyed smile. "At my age a heart attack is very threatening to my health!"

"Then I suppose that it's a good thing that Iris is the new champion." Shauntel muttered.

"I thought we were supposed to be respectful?" Grimsley said smugly. "You're not exactly following your own words."

"Shut up you idiot!" She hissed to him.

Drew grumbled. "What is wrong with this league?" He could see Caitlin look back at him slightly with a neutral expression. He hardly cared. "My question is a very valid one." He said in the same tone.

Caitlin turned fully towards Iris and smiled cheerily. "Iris, how about we visit your pokémon?"

Shauntel sighed again. "Caitlin this is hardly the moment to be asking that, we have to know the detail of what Iris and her group were up to."

"Oh, I already know what transpired with all of them."

Shauntel narrowed her eyes. "And you didn't say anything? At all?"

Caitlin shrugged. "I was never asked to tell."

Shauntel threw her head back and groaned loudly. "We really need to sort out our relationships with each other!" She yelled. "We have been working together for years and this is just not working for any of us!" She rubbed at her face furiously. "Honestly, as much as I don't want to, I think that this is a completely new era for Unova and the four of us Heavenly Kings should find new successors. We've been working together for over a decade and the miscommunication is utterly ridiculous and I know that none of us really like each other properly other than maybe Caitlin and Marshall."

Iris' expression seemed panicked; actually, it was very panicked. "W-what?" She stuttered out. "You can't just retire at a crucial moment like this? Unova is in a proxy war! We need to solve this before we can even consider that option!"

"Thing cannot be solved without teamwork and the whole past league is a mess. The generation where we ran the region should be forgotten. If we worked together then the proxy war could've been avoided completely but look at where it has gotten us now!" Shauntel rebuked. "I have had enough of all this stress that just how terrible the region is being run and many, many citizens agree with me! Have you not seen the reviews and comments the media has made of us? None of it is false!"

The whole room was quiet, nobody dared to speak. Iris seemed so small compared to everyone, young and small. Her fists were shanking by her side and she stared down every one of her elite four. "Shauntel, that outburst was unnecessary. I don't care how damn hard this teamwork is, you have to do it! Unova is going through hell and we have not asked for any help, none at all! For Arceus' sake, you are acting like a spoiled child and I should know exactly what a spoiled child is, I can see quite a few in this room right now! I don't care that you are dissatisfied but this is how things are right now! Grow up! We have millions of lives counting on us to solve this shit that we've all trapped ourselves in!" She gestured to her group of friends. "If you really want to know who we are and where we were I'll tell you right now!"

Iris paused and glared. "This group of us has been through more hell that you have ever had in your life. Four were caught in the bombing in Hoenn, two were dealing with the rabid pokémon in Kanto, one was tortured for years, years!" She shouted. "Half of this group has been through so much, I don't doubt a bunt of us have PTSD and are keeping it quiet. We have seen people be murdered! We have had a friend murdered! One of us can't be here because she is suffering so much!" She made a wide gesture to her friends. "All of us are protectors of legendary pokémon! Every single one. We have so much on our shoulders right now, I don't want to even hear you whisper about how hard it is here for you when all you have to deal with right now is working together! We all know that regardless of your positions, I am the one who will ultimately solve this whole damned problem and probably these people who weren't born in this country and do not have to deal with any of this!" She stepped towards her elite four, she looked like an enraged dragon, it was what she really was. "I want all of you, including Alder, to go and figure things out between another and I do not want to hear a single complaint from you unless is it acutally important to the situation at hand!" She pointed to the dragon statue at the bottom of the stairs. "Go."

"Iris—" Marshall attempted, his voice was gentle.

"Go!" She repeated herself. The Four Heavenly Kings all glanced between each other then turned and complied with their Champion's orders. Iris didn't move an inch, nobody did until they were moving back upstairs.

Everyone was still silent. After a few more seconds, Iris growled, actually growled. "Now that those idiots are solved. I want all of us to go up to my office, yes Ash I'll show you all my pokémon there, and I'll get my head G-Men agent to tell me what happened. She has just as much seniority as the Heavenly Kings do so she'll know everything." She nodded once. "Good, perfect then." She rubbed her face and a flash of red came from her pocket and there stood Axew. He smiled at Iris and jumped into her hair, cuddling up to her face. It was at that moment, Drew realised that Axew had an everstone on it, tied onto a small bracelet. Axew jumped back down onto the ground and stared up at her.

"Axew!" He said. "Yew ax yew yew." He slipped off the bracelet.

Iris' eyes widened at the action, "Axew? You want to? You won't be able to climb in my hair anymore..." Her dragon-type nodded once and suddenly, a white light enveloped him. His silhouette grew and grew, bigger and bigger, too big. The new silhouette towered over Iris and the light dispersed and sparkled around the newly evolved partner of the Unovian Champion.

"Haxorus!" The pokémon shouted and Drew could feel the very floor shake beneath him. It wasn't hard to feel the strength radiating off of Haxorus.

Tears sparkled in Iris' eyes and she threw herself at her beloved pokémon. "You're so brave!" She said, her voice flowed with pride like a mother would to her child. "You don't know just how much I love you Haxorus, you're such a wonderful thing! You're so handsome and just so brave and strong!" Haxorus curled his body around her and hugged her. Quiet sobs were heard from the cuddling pokémon and trainer.

Drew smiled, his heart warmed instantly. This is exactly what was needed for the group right now, a show of love between two living creatures that was just so genuine. He felt a body press up to him and he pulled an arm around them to pull them closer into their own embrace. "Iris is exactly what Unova needs; she will be the champion who will be remembered for the rest of time, for as long as humans live."

"You're definitely not wrong about that." He agreed.

Iris sniffles calmed down after a few minutes and she furiously rubbed at her eyes. "You're so perfect." She said to her pokémon running her hand along his scales. She looked around her giant pokémon to the rest of the group and smiled at them, adding in a glee fuelled laugh. "Come on guys! Let'sget us moving!" Haxorus turned to face the rest of the group and Cilan and Ash quickly approached him, giving him hugs as well as Iris. More and more people gravitated towards the building group hug. Dawn was next and quickly pulled along Paul who really didn't look like he minded. Misty hurried forward and tightly joined in, May looked up at him and together they joined in. Laughter erupted throughout the group like a pleasant disease.

"Nous sommes amis buts!" Serena said quite loudly and Clemont laughed heartily.

"Vous ne l'avez jamais été plus correct Serena! " He added on.

"Could somebody maybe translate that for us?" Gary asked with a laugh.

Clemont and Serena looked at each other with grins. "We are friend goals!" She laughed. "It's a Kalosian saying." She explained.

"You have never been more right Serena!" Spoke Clemont.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suprise! A mid-week update! I'm leaving in three weeks so I want to try and write and publish as fast as I can! Tell me what you think about this chapter! Comment all your favourite parts!
> 
> What do you think of the Unovian Four Heavenly Kings? 
> 
> Do you think there should be new hirings? 
> 
> Who do you think can take the roles as new elite four members for Unova?
> 
> Have a lovely week everybody!


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5  
June 7th, 2006**

There was a hallway to the right of the large room. Misty looked up and saw the high vaulted ceiling which she previously didn’t notice; a glimmering chandelier was completely still. Iris walked with a bounce in her step, keeping very close to her beloved Haxorus. Haxorus was the only thing that was on her mind really, not her friends nor Cilan. Ash hurried up to her and walked really closely beside her. 

“So what pokémon do you have? I wanna battle you!” He challenged.

“No.” Iris said plainly.

“What? Why not? You let me battle you plenty of times in the past!”

Iris glanced over at him. “I know that your pokémon will be stronger than mine, I did watch the Kalos league you know. I’m not quite prepared to go up against your Greninja. Plus I just became the new Champion and I don’t exactly want you to take my title away from me, at least not this soon.” She shrugged lightly at him. “Another thing is that if you did win then you’d have to be champion and I don’t want to just put you on the spot with Unova’s issues right now, it wouldn’t be fair for you.”  
Ash slumped over. “Yeah you’ve got a point… but not even a friendly match?”

“No.” Iris shared a look with her Haxorus that nudged her. “Well, maybe I can do a quick one-on-one battle to test Haxorus’ strength.”  
Ash’s face instantly lit up with glee. “Yes!” He picked Pikachu up from off the ground beside him. “How about it buddy? A battle with Iris! You wanna help her right?”  
“Pikachu!” His partner replied. 

Misty smiled and rolled her eyes. Down the hallway was a series of other hallways that led off into different directions. It still had the same gold tile and even on the walls. Chandeliers lit up the halls nicely as well as little candlesticks positioned around the walls looking as is they were suspended in the air. There were gilded picture frames dotting the main walls as the neared a large wooden door that was decorated with all types and kinds of pokémon that were normally found in the Unova region. The pictures were lined in order, the newer champions and elite four members were closer to the exit into the Champion’s chamber. The Champions and Elite Four she was looking at were from decades into the past.

Iris pushed open the door and walked inside. “Whoever’s last, just leave it open for now, that way Agent Ortiz can come in when she’s ready.” Iris stepped around her desk and leaned back in her chair, sighing happily. She opened an eye and looked around. “Ah, I need more chairs….” She reached for the pager at her desk and sent something out. In a few moments, there was a beeping noise and a paper was being printed back.  
“Iris,” Dawn asked. “Is Agent Ortiz the lead G-Men agent?” 

Iris looked over the paper and nodded once to her blue haired friend. “Yes that’s her, I’m unsure whether you’ve heard of her or not, most likely not….” She mulled over the thought, “No definitely not. She’s been undercover as a trainer for some time and has infiltrated the Plasma base a few times. This is the second time Plasma has made a stand against the League in the past few years,” she looked pointedly at Ash. “Ghetsis was properly defeated and he seems to have come back. He is no longer in prison despite the fact that he was placed into a maximum security one that was very much an outlier from the rest of the region. There was no destruction, no evidence of a body being found, nothing. With all the recent events of him disappearing, and what Plasma is taking part in, it’s very safe to assume that he is behind the whole plot.”  
Misty frowned and scratched her head. “Where exactly was this prison?”

“Far out, near Undella Bay.” Cilan answered for her. “It was still within Unova, but as far out as we could possibly have it. It’s more of a shared prison between Sinnoh and Unova. Looker was the one who arrested him, so that’s also a key reason as to why he was put there and not to a separate prison that we have south of Castelia City.”  
Paul grunted. “I know who Looker is.”

“So do I!” Dawn added. She glanced over to Paul. “I don’t know how you know Looker, but I met him in Sinnoh with Ash and Brock.”  
“I just know who he is.” He said vaguely.

Ash wrinkled his nose. “But Looker is a super important person to not be known. How do you know who he is exactly unless you met him before?”  
Paul sighed and rubbed his forehead. “This isn’t something I should really be telling anybody, it’s a secret in my family.” He wasn’t looking directly at anybody and opted to close his eyes. “I had a few cousins who were in Team Galactic. All of them got arrested and for some reason they contacted my brother about the whole situation instead of their own parents. Ash if Reggie was going to do anything about it. We have absolutely no contact with them, their just pathetic human beings that I really wish I had no relation to, much less they even exist.” He cracked open an eye. “I swear to Arceus though, if this is ever put in the media I will be pissed and strangle you. I want to become champion and I rather this relation not be present when I accept the title.”

“Don’t worry buddy, we won’t say a word.” Gary promised. “That kind of stuff isn’t really generally accepted in society so I can understand why you want it to be on the down low. It’s a good thing none of us hate you.”

“Don’t call me buddy.” Paul grumbled. “And I don’t care whether any of you hate me or not. As long as this stuff isn’t released to the public, I don’t give a shit about your opinions of me.”

Iris pushed her hair out of the way as it had fallen onto her face. “You piss me off sometimes to be frank, but I don’t hate you. You just need to work on your attitude.” The purple haired man sent a glare her way.

“Well his attitude has improved a lot actually…” Dawn said quietly. “He’s a much better person than when I first met him.”

“At the Oreburgh Gym she tried to kill him because he forgot her name.” Ash added in and got a smack from Dawn.

“Shut up! I was a kid!”

“You still are a kid.” Paul muttered.

May huffed and crossed her arms. “Iris, you need to arrest Paul.”

Iris blinked. “Why…?”

“Pedophillia.”

Dawn choked on her spit and coughed roughly. Paul was sending a deadly look at May which she expertly ignored. “May!” Dawn hissed. “You shut up too!”

May shrugged. “Well you are only sixteen.”

“We’re not in any sort of relationship besides friends!” She had a furious red blush on her face. “I-If anything it’s Cilan that should be arrested!”  
Cilan’s eyes widened. “Why are you bringing me into this argument?” He straightened himself up and completely towered over everybody in the room. “How about we just leave this subject behind us and not worry about what anybody does in their past time? That sounds like a pleasing idea!”

There was a knock on the door to Iris’ office. A rather tall woman was standing there with large buns that had hair trailing down to her hips. She was dressed in very casual clothing and even had a bag slung over her shoulder. “Interesting conversation.” She said with a grin and made her way into the room. “Welcome home Iris.” She greeted kindly and manoeuvred herself around all the people standing in the room.

Iris smiled sheepishly. “Thank you Rosa.” Rosa stepped back beside her and smiled to the arrange of people also in the room. “This is Agent Ortiz. Leaf, could you close the door?”  
The brown haired girl still didn’t talk all that much to the group other than the ones who were also from Kanto. She nodded once to Iris and closed the door with a quiet click.  
“Thank you,” Rosa said, she placed her bag onto Iris’ desk. She unzipped it and pulled out papers, handing them over to her champion. “These are the reports we collected, just copies though.”

“Copies are fine. Can you just explain everything verbally to us; these people are fine to know. They are who I’ve been with the past few weeks and I can vouch for them all and confirm that they are all safe persons to the government.”

Rosa nodded. “Well if the Champion herself can vouch for you all then that definitely means that you are all safe to know. Cilan approached her with a chair but she shooed him away with a smile, however that smiled soon turned into a very serious expression once she began to speak about the events that had transpired in the timeframe of a month when which they were gone. “The incident happened on June 14th. The league building itself was safe but two of the gyms in the region were attacked. Virbank City gym which is run by Roxie Rosenfeld and Humilau City gym which is run by Marlon Paul, these two gym are newly formed ones and that happened back in June 2004. At the moment, Marlon operates the strongest gym in the region, preferably the last gym that trainers go to. Roxie is holding the spot as the second gym.” Rosa flipped through her papers that she had brought with her. “At the moment one of these people in missing, Roxie Rosenfeld.” She glanced up to Cilan. “You were uninformed, but your two brothers had opted to reopen the gym you three ran while you were away, currently is just a water and fire-type gym since you are not present to take you position but whether you decided to go back and become a gym leader or not is completely your option.

“What happened between both Virbank and Humilau gyms are varying in degrees. When the Virbank Gym was attacked, it held a concert. Thankfully the attack wasn’t all that horrifying, nobody was killed but some were injured and one, being Roxie, was kidnapped.” She said slowly.

“You said it was varying in degrees of danger I presume,” Cilan started. “From what you’ve said I take it that Roxie’s gym was the lesser of the problem. What happened to Marlon?”  
Rosa blinked and stood up straighter. “Marlon is currently in the ICU of the Casteila City General Hospital.”

Iris abruptly stood up. “CCGH?” Iris spluttered. “That’s the best hospital in the region, what is Marlon’s condition?”

Rosa pulled out a page and handed it to Iris, not saying a word. The purple haired Dragon Master’s expression was enough to saying to the group. “He’s brain dead…”  
“That is what the doctors put on his record, though he does indeed have a chance of surviving. He is one of the hospital’s top priorities right now and they are doing as much as they can to bring him back to he can give us the rundown of what really happened in the gym. The security cameras were messed with by a masked figure before the event happened. No witnesses were present and none of his pokémon were found other than a decapitated male frillish which showed evidence of a pokémon fight upon it’s autopsy. There was a golbat’s poison in it’s circulatory system as well as blackened lungs which is assumed from prolonged exposure to a smokescreen.

“Regarding the two cases, we don’t have too much information to go off on. There is a bit of good news however…” Rosa said. “Both Hilda and Natural have contacted us since they both disappeared a few years ago, Natural is busy doing different arrangements with his two sisters, and Hilda has captured and arrested four of the seven sages that were previously part of Team Plasma, they have all pleaded guilty. They have all made comments saying that they understand how they have been in the wrong and are willingly accepting their fates in life sentencing, despite their sentences becoming shortened because they had admitted their crimes.”

Iris smiled. “Well that is encouraging to know.” She leaned closer to her head agent. “So any news on any of the others in your group? The only whereabouts I know of are of you and Hilda. What about the others? Nate, Hugh, Cheren, Bianca, Hilbert?”

Rosa laughed and shook her head. “All are carrying their lives out in more normal ways than Hilda and I are.”

“Make sure to tell them hello from both Cilan and I.” She smiled. “I’d like to see them again sometime.”

“I’ll pass on the word!” Rosa promised and picked up her bag, but not before gently organizing the papers and leaving them in a pile for Iris.

Iris waited for Rosa to close the door before sighing and rubbing her forehead. “Now that that’s figured out, we need to find somewhere that we can all fit to stay the night. I have an apartment in Opelucid City, it’s just one bedroom. Most if the champions work from home rather than at the league building like Lance and Wallace…”

“There’s my place?” Cilan offered. “The café is plenty big to accommodate everybody.” He frowned, “But it’s quite far so perhaps not…”

“Why can’t we just stay here?” Gary asked.

Iris glanced to him. “There is a bedroom for each high ranking member in case they need to stay overnight and just a simple cabin area for the others, but the bedroom that I have isn’t big enough, it’s not all that grand, just a double bed and a few of my things…. What we need to know is if there’s anybody we know, or at least knew when we were kids, that live near here with a mansion.”

“Drayden?” Cilan offered, “He’s still mayor and he has that grand apartment complex?”

Iris shook her head. “I don’t want to ask him any more favours; The Village of Dragons is close?”

“But they just have those tiny one room cabins!” Ash whined. “It’s not much better then here!”

Cilan sprung from his seat, “We can take the train from here to Lacunosa Town!  
”  
“Train?” That was Ash.

“Lacunosa?” That was Iris.

Cilan nodded his head vigorously. “Yes! As an expert train connoisseur, I have memorized the exact layout of the underground subway so we can easily use the train the league has and drive us to Lacunsoa Town! That is where Burgundy lives, it’ll just be around twenty-five minutes, plus we can easily take the train back when we need to, or just drive which is about an hour at most. Burgundy is the only one who lives closest to us; Bianca is in Nuvema, which is on the other side of the region. Stephan in Driftville, Georgia in Icirrus, Cameron in Nimbasa, Trip in Nacrene, Luke in Virbank. Virgil is literally in the middle of nowhere and has absolutely no room with his million children!” Cilan listed off.

Iris gave Cilan a pointed look. “There is no way in hell that we are staying with Burgundy. You and her will fight non-stop.”

“My unhappiness is but a small price to pay for us all to be sheltered in a roomy house. She, out of all of us, is the one most successful beside you; she is rich since she became an S class connoisseuse! She can’t say no to the champion who is standing on her doorstep!”

 

*****  
**June 7th, 2006**

“Non!” The door slammed into their faces.  
Iris huffed and slowly turned to Cilan, “Excellent idea.” She hissed. “I told you she would do this!”  
Cilan raised his arms up in his defence. “Now just hold on a moment. I know how we can get her to let us in!” A breeze passed over the group and they all shivered violently, who thought that it was a good idea to live this close to the freezing Giant Chasm? “Burgundy! My brothers—”  
The door flung open and she had a wild look in her eyes. “Tu est horrible!” She growled and opened the door widely. “Hurry up and get inside!” She spat. “Tu est un trou du cul Cilan!”

Cilan’s eyes widened, as did Clemont and Serena’s. “Burgundy!” He shouted, “There are two people here from Kalos!”

“Pensez-vous que je me soucie?”

“Oui!” Cilan yelled back. “Soyez poli, ils sont les champion’s invités!”

Ash scratched his head. “Cilan, when did you become so good at French?” He didn’t answer his friend.

Burgundy harrumphed and crossed her arms over her chest. Her whole physique had changed drastically since the last time Ash had seen her, she was way more feminine. Way more. Her attitude however? Probably got worse, okay, definitely got worse. Currently she was wearing professional clothing, a black skirt and a white blouse. Her hair was long enough to be pulled up in a loose bun, and her face was properly applied with makeup.

“Just get inside, il fait froids!”

“I can agree with you there…” Ash muttered. The whole group turned to stare at him. “What?”

“You understood what she said?” Misty asked. “You were asking Cilan about his capabilities of speaking French, but the real question is, how do you know it?”

Ash blinked. “Oh, well I don’t know it, I can’t speak anything but basic stuff but I understand what people are saying. I did just finish traveling in a French region.”

“Ash shut up.” Gary said with a yawn. “I’m tired and I don’t care. There’s too much French happening right now I can’t keep up.”

Burgundy pointed directly at Gary. “I like you.” She stated. “Now everybody get inside!” The group squeezed into her nicely sized, yet still large, home. It was very beautiful on the inside, nicely decorated in a style that was homey but also classy. “You better all have clean clothes.” Burgundy huffed. “You are definitely not staying in my house without clean clothes and pajamas!”

“We have clean pajamas, don’t worry.” Iris sighed.

Burgundy lead them all into her spacious living room and everyone took a seat someplace or another, whether it was on a couch, loveseat or the plush carpeted floor. “Now why are you all here at my house?” She asked. “I thought you dropped off this child two years ago?”

“Were the same age!” Ash defended and moved Pikachu onto his lap as he sat on the floor.

Burgundy didn’t even acknowledge the pokémon and wrinkled her nose at the black haired trainer. “Are we? I thought you were what? Fourteen?”

Ash bristled. “I’m eighteen!” He pointed to his face. “Look! I’m totally different looking! I even didn’t have time to shave today!”

“Shave what?” Misty sneered at him. “I just see a baby face.”

Ash pouted and crossed his arms. “Mist! You’re supposed to be on my side! You’re my girlfriend!”

Burgundy began to choke on her own spit. “Y-you have a girlfriend?” She spluttered. “How?” She looked to Misty. “She seems like she could do much, much better than you!”

“I could.” Misty agreed.

“I hate all of you.” He quickly pointed between Iris and Cilan. “They’re dating too.”

“Oh I already knew that.” Burgundy shrugged and sat in the arm of her loveseat. Paul quickly moved his arm out of the way and moved closer to May and Drew who were also squished on while May was holding Dawn captive on her lap like a child despite the fact that Dawn was taller and was also partly sitting on Drew as well who just looked very uncomfortable in the situation. “The air about them was so awkward and they so obviously were very into each other no matter how many times the denied it, the rest of the region knew what was going on. Plus they’re both idiots, perfect couple!”

“Excuse me?” Iris spat. “I’m an idiot?”

“Yes!” Burgundy nodded her head once curtly. “The state of this region is atrocious! There are so many families in poverty, the whole region is abnormally cold, not just here, which means that there is no crops growing, constant threat from Team Plasma! The very, very corrupt league! This was bad before you came, but they just got worse since you were crowned.”

The whole room was silent and Iris held a strong seething glare with Burgundy. “The whole world is falling apart or have you not noticed?” Iris challenged. “There’s a reason as to why there were that many refugees that came here from other regions, Unova is one of the most stable right now as sad as it seems, just after Kalos which,” She leaned forward and knocker her knuckles against the wooden coffee table, “is the best place right now.” She leaned back into her original sitting position. “Just so you know, we just came all the way from Johto, do you know why Johto suddenly reappeared from its supposed disappearance?” She gestured widely to the group sitting in the room. “Because of us, that’s why it’s back.”

Burgundy pursed her lips. “How can you possibly do that?”

“By making what was wrong, right again.” Iris said vaguely. “I can’t fully trust you, it’s strictly league only business aside from the people involved. That is all you need to know.”  
Burgundy stood up, her black pencil skirt bunched up and she pulled it down into its proper position. “Stay there, I’ll get you some blankets. You’re all sleeping down here tonight.” She said. “There are two full bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. Upstairs has both a shower and a bath so if two of you are comfortable enough.” She gave each of them a stern look. “No snooping, no gorging on food, no entering my room, no sexual activities. I see one of these broken and you are to be kicked out and my Samurott will spray you with water so you will get sick.” And with that, she turned and left.

“She scares me.” Drew admitted.

“She scares all of us.” Gary consoled.

 

*****  
**June 8th, 2006**  
A sweet aroma woke the group from their slumber, or really just one person. Everybody was mostly in a heap of bodies and blankets aside from three people, Paul, Drew and Leaf. Even though the room was large, everybody was still cold and this was the best and most successful idea they had. Everyone slept better than a snorlax.  
Serena yawned and attempted to get up, but a bundle of legs and a set of arms blocked her. The legs belonged to Gary and the arms were Cilan’s. She heard a clicking noise and lifted her head gently; her hair was snagged under the body of May who was lying above her.  
“Oh! Burgundy, the blonde girl’s awake!” A new voice said. Serena winced and pulled her hair free, now scooting up to rest her head on May’s side so she could get a view of the person.

The person had pink hair, kind of similar to Burgundy’s purple. Her hair was just at the chin in a bob and her figure was very much the same as Burgundy’s. She saw Burgundy peek her head in through a doorway, an apron was on her and she was holding a pair of tongs. “I don’t know any of their names other than the three you know too.” Burgundy stared at her and Serena blinked stupidly.

“I-I’m Serena!” She stuttered out. “I’m o-one of the people from Kalos!”

Burgundy nodded once. “Bonjour alors, vous n'êtes pas ennuyeux.”

“M-merci!”

The pink haired girl gave Burgundy a look. “What?”

“I said good morning.”

The pink haired girl wrinkled her nose. “That many word just to say good morning?”

“Amongst other things, yes.”

The girl glanced at Serena from the corner of her eyes and moved her head back to face her, her eyes were a lovely shade of green, different than any other she had seen before. It was not a usual colour in Kalos. “Can you do me a favour and pretend to sleep again?” She asked. “Iris is my rival and if I can embarrass her I will.”

“Uh, yes, sure…” She agreed and just closed her eyes, there was a rapid amount of clicks then the girl spoke again.

“Okay we’re good. I can help you out now if you want.”

“I’d appreciate that, yes thank you.”

The girl picked her way around the mass of bodies and roughly kicked Gary and Cilan out of the way. “Grumpigs…” She muttered and pulled Serena up by the wrist. “I’m Georgia by the way.” Serena dusted off her pajamas and gave a smile to Georgia. “How do you know these people?”

“Oh, I just finished travelling Kalos with Ash, all the rest are people that I’ve met through Ash aside from Clemont.” She gestured to the blond haired boy. “He was with us as well.”  
Gerogia nodded once. “Yeah that makes sense. That’s how Burgundy and I met, because of him too.” She made her way back over the sleeping people and into the kitchen, Serena following after. “Wanna help us make French toast?” She asked.

“Sure!” Serena smiled. “I love cooking sweet things!” She peered at the pile of toast already sitting on the table. 

“How much do all of those idiots eat?” Burgundy asked.

Serena blushed. “A lot, what you have could probably fill half of us alone. It’s mostly Ash, Gary and May that eat everything.”

Burgundy snorted. “They can all starve then.”

“I wouldn’t mind if you did that!” Serena laughed. “I know how hard it is to cook for them. I took turns with Cilan and Clemont while we were away.”

There was a loud groan from the living room. “Great, the rest are waking up.” Burgundy grumbled. “There goes my quiet time.” There was a thud that made the floor shake and a voice yelled out.

“You idiot get offa me!”

“You’re the one laying on me!”

Serena awkwardly laughed and rubbed the back of her head. “That’s Ash and May…”

“May shut up!” A third voice rang out.

“Drew, you’re my boyfriend you’re supposed to be on my side!”

“Hey don’t steal my line! I said that last night!”

“Ash you shut up too!”

“Paul, you’re my friend—”

“I am _not_ your friend!”

Georgia rolled her eyes. “I’ll get them to shut up, Serena, you come too.” Georgia stepped into the room and took a deep breath

Ash’s eyes locked onto the pink haired woman and widened. “Geor—”

“Shut the hell up and get your asses into the kitchen to eat!” She shouted. Everybody who was asleep jumped awake and those who were awake jumped onto their feet and hurried into the kitchen aside from Paul who scowled at her and slowly began to make his way over. “Are you going to make me say it again? Get the hell up!”

“Who’s yelling?” Iris grumbled, her hair was a fray and sticking up in all different directions. Georgia grinned evilly and pulled out her phone and took another quick picture.

“You look very beautiful today Iris!” Georgia sneered. “You look just like an unkempt chincino!”

Iris’s eyes narrowed instantly. “Georgia! Delete that right now!”

“No! I’ll consider the idea though if you get the rest of your friends up and into the kitchen.” She sang the last part tauntingly.

“Consider it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo since I'm going to be away soon I'm just spewing out these chapter so you can have as many to read asap! This book should have around 20-25 chapters though before I was thinning more on the lines on 15-20 but now that I've got it started, probably not.
> 
> What do you think about the new looks at Burgundy and Gerogia? Was this what you were expecting?
> 
> Have a lovely week guys!
> 
> ALSO YOU CAN FIND ME ON TUMBLR! http://little-marshmallows.tumblr.com/


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ END OF CHAPTER PLEASE, THERE'S IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT TODAY!

Chapter 6

July 8th, 2006

 

The group of trainers couldn’t all fit into Burgundy’s dining room properly, and for fear of them making a mess, and it was a perfectly reasonable fear, she had ordered for them all to sit outside and eat their food instead, even in the cold July weather of Lacunosa Town.

Leaf shivered in her spot, the French toast sitting on her lap warmed her thighs quite nicely. She had gotten more clothes, courteously of the money from various people in the group. She had already worn her warmest clothing and now she was dressed in an outfit similar to the one she would wear when she was younger, except a black skirt instead of red.

Gary was sitting next to her on the low deck Burgundy had right outside of the back door. He was chatting happily with Clemont before he noticed her harsh shiver. He looked over to her with a concerned expression. “Are you cold?” She noticed that Clemont was also giving her a concerned look.

She shook her head. “I’m alright, it’s just the breeze. Everybody mostly done with their food anyway, I can wait another ten minutes...” Gary wasn’t listening and was unzipping the hooded sweater he wore. “Gary no!” Leaf protested. “That’s unnecessary stop it.” He froze what he was doing with the sweater half off. “I understand that you want to help me but I don’t want people to help me anymore. I had enough help less than a month ago, I want to do things for myself and not rely on other people, even if it is just an offer for a sweater.”

Gary blinked and laughed. “You’re too stubborn.” However he still shrugged off the jacket and placed it between them. “I’m not giving you the jacket; I’m just putting it beside us. I’m not helping, I’m conveniently placing.” He flashed her another smile. “We can go out and get you another sweater today, there’s probably warmer ones here than in Johto.”

Gary turned back to Clemont and revived the conversation they were previously having. Leaf still didn’t take the jacket and continued on eating her breakfast happily.

A weight appeared next to her on the side where the deck was empty. Leaf glanced over and there was Georgia sitting there with smile. “Hello!” She greeted. “I’m trying to talk to everybody to both talk to new people and annoy Iris when she learns that her friends and friends with me as well.”

“I assume you and Iris are rivals then?” Leaf inquired as she cut another piece of her breakfast.

“Yep!” Georgia nodded once. “A quick reasoning to our rivalry is that she masters dragon types, and I master ice types.”

Leaf smiled. “That does bring in some reasoning. Are you a gym leader then?”

Georgia frowned. “No, there used to be an ice type gym but the leader decided to pursue a career in acting again rather than as a gym leader anymore. I’ve tried to persuade him to open it back up, or at least take over it but he very much refuses, and since there is already a building there it will just make things easier for it to be reopened.” She shrugged. “The past leader is so stubborn, I want to become a gym leader, but since so many have popped up in the past few years it’s hard to just open up another new one, we don’t need it, but that’s why if the previous one is opened again, there wouldn’t be much of an issue, no need to build anything, just some paperwork confirming that I’m the new gym leader. Brycen, the previous gym leader will really have to do most of the work, and he doesn’t want to do that.”

“Could Iris do anything about it?” Leaf asked.

Georgia nodded. “Oh yeah of course she could do something about it, but I’d rather her not get involved until necessary, like when signing the papers later on.” She shrugged and pulled her cup of coffee to her lips and took a sip. “It sounds stupid to not ask her for help, I know. However, as a rival I won’t let Iris just help me when I can do the majority of it myself.” Georgia faced the direction Iris was sitting and looked at Leaf from the corner of her eye. “Do you have a rival?”

Leaf shook her head, “I never really had the chance to have one. Gary and Ash are the closest I have to one, but I really don’t have that sort of relationship with either of them.”

Georgia faced her again and tilted her head to the side like a confused growlithe. “What do you mean you never had the chance?”

Leaf shifted uncomfortably, she could feel Gary’s thigh press into her own, he had moved closer to her. Once again, Gary and Clemont’s conversation had stopped. Other than the two behind her, nobody else seemed to notice the change in mood. “I actually don’t think I can say, but I will tell you that I was gone for years and nobody could do anything about it.”

Georgia sensed the change in tone. “What kind of pokémon do you have? There are so many new trainers here and it’s been ages from the last time I’ve had a pokémon battle.”

Leaf looked at her with a smile. “I’ll battle you, even though I haven’t had a real pokémon battle in a few years, my pokémon are extremely strong, if you’re up to the challenge?”

“Oh, I’m very ready for this so called challenge!” Georgia jumped up from where she was sitting. “To the pokémon center!” She shouted, and the people who weren’t listening into their conversation a few feet away looked over.

“Why?” Iris asked with a slight scowl.

“Because Leaf and I are going to have a pokémon battle!” She announced with a maniac grin.

Ash immediately jumped up. “I wanna battle too!” He whirled around to be able to look at everybody. “Somebody battle me too!”

“Paul will!” May volunteered with a smile. “It’s been ages since you guys have fought against another right?”

“Yes!” Ash exclaimed.

“No,” Paul rebuked quickly. “It’ll still be ages before we battle again.”

“And by ages, he means an hour and a half at most. Don’t worry Ash, you’ll battle him!” May promised with a smile.

 

*****

July 8th, 2006

 

As a matter of fact, Burgundy lived quite close to the pokémon center. The walk was fairly quick; everybody had put on warmer clothes, like pants and sweaters. Gary had forced Leaf into wearing one of his sweaters. It was an odd feeling to wear such warm clothes in what was one of the hottest months of the year, or at least it was in Kanto.

Ash looked at Dawn and Paul, the two of them hardly noticed the chill, wearing clothes that they would normally wear. Then again, they did live in the northernmost region out of all of them and it was never really that hot there, the temperature would typically range from -20 degrees Celsius and all the way to about 20 degrees above zero, only the very southern cities experienced the 20 degree heat that they did get. Out of the two of them, Dawn was the only one who would’ve lived with the heat for only the first twelve years of her life before ultimately setting out on her first journey with Ash and Brock.

The chill wasn’t awfully bad, but it was jarring and reached deep into the bones, making it feel far cooler than it really was, and it was just from the western winds from the ocean would pick up from the Giant Chasm.

Ash was pumped for the battle he so readily wanted to have with Paul, it really had been ages since they last battled in the Lily of the Valley Conference. It only made him more excited because of his success in the Lumiose Conference, who knew that he would do so well?

Ash was not only pumped for his own battle, but he was excited to see Leaf battle again. It had been over two years since he had last challenged Paul, and a while longer since Leaf had battled anybody. He figured that it would also be fun to see how Georgia had improved over time.

Iris had tried to make herself hidden, shoving much of her hair under a hat and a hood, with an oversized sweater and a ski mask on. Considering how pleased most of the region is with her actions, it’s best that she doesn’t make herself recognisable.

Nurse Joy gave them the okay to use the battle field, she did cast a wary gaze onto Iris but the Unovian Champion simply ignored it.

Ash raced outside and happily sat down on a nearby bench so he could have the perfect view of the battle field. Iris slid in next to him, pressing herself closely against him and allowing her large and lanky boyfriend to slip in next to her. On his other side, Gary sat next to him, giving him more room.

Something flicked the back of his head and he looked up to meet a pair of beautiful sea coloured eyes, she grinned and him and rest her hand on his shoulders, he smiled back and went back to face the battle.

The bench was a safe distance away. There were people standing behind him and some were sitting in front of him. Gary leaded into his left side and whispered, “Do you think she’ll be alright?”

Ash smiled faintly at the concern in his voice. “’Course she’ll be fine!” He reassured his friend whole heartedly. “She wants to do this, I can tell. She wants to get back into battling. She wasn’t the best out of the three of us for no reason.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Gary breath bellowed out in front of him creating a faint mist. “I’m just a little bit worried I guess.”

“Well don’t worry, she’s gonna be perfectly fine, I do understand what you’re thinking though.” He jammed his elbow into Gary’s side, and the brunet jabbed his elbow back with more than enough force.

“Shut up loser.” Gary muttered.

“Hey!” Ash grumbled. “At least I’m not the one who wrote that on a damned city sign and permanently vandalised it!”

Gary scoffed, “It’s not still there moron, it’s been eight years!”

“It’s still there.” Misty butted in. “I visit you and Tracey at work and I go over to Delia’s. I always pass the sign.” Misty glanced up at the battle field and swiftly flung her hand over the mouth of the two men before her. “Now shut up, the battle’s starting.”

Ash and Gary both immediately straightened their postures and turned their gazes onto the women standing across from each other.

Georgia was holding a strong pose. Her shoulders opened wide with dominance as if she was asking for a fight. Her hands were placed firmly on her hips with her chin raised. Leaf was shorter than her so her eyes were cast on a downwards angle to gleefully stare down her opponent like a mother Beartic, which in all honesty, she really could be.

“You ready?” She asked snarkily.

Ash glanced to Leaf, a grin sent shoots of pain through his cheek muscles. Leaf had her legs spread out, unlike Georgia; her head was tilted downwards, eyes looking up at her opponent, also taking on a powerful, dominant stance. “Only if you believe you are.”

Georgia smirked and reached towards the belt at her waist, “Then let the battle begin!” Clemont jumped up and skidded over to the side of the field.

“You need a ref!” He said quickly. “I’ll do it!”

Leaf glanced over to him and her smile softened. “Thank you Clemont!” As she looked back to her opponent, her demeanour changed back to strength rather than kind.

Georgia tossed out her first pokémon; it was a small pokémon that Ash recognised to be new, a Mawile.

Mawile spun in a circle before fully facing Leaf, the mouth on the back of its head shot up and stood straight in the air behind it.

Leaf smiled and threw her own opposing pokémon onto the field, a Wigglytuff. Ash grinned, he remembered the bubbly Jigglypuff it once had been, now it screamed power. He could see the muscles even through the thick pink fur.

“Wiggly!” It shouted and struck a pose.

Without a seconds hesitation Georgia barked out an order. “Mawile, iron defence!” Mawile flexed its arms and a quick flash of faint white light moved over its body and left it with a silver sheen. “Now toxic!” Mawile’s giant mouth snapped open and a beam of purple and black sludge spat out, barrelling rapidly at Wigglytuff.

Without Leaf asking, Wigglytuff bounced out of the way of the attack easily. “Disable!” Wigglytuff had a small blue glow outlining it before disappearing in a sparkle. “Thunder!”

Wigglytuff snapped its fingers and pointed them to Mawile, a flash of yellow energy split through the air with a resonating crack and landed heavily onto Mawile. Mawile held its ground and barely budged from the impact other than a small stumble.

“Play rough!” Georgia called firmly. Mawile sprang forward with a smile, its muscles visibly growing and it began to strike one hit after another on Wigglytuff.

Wigglytuff held its arms up over the most vulnerable part of its body. “Thunder again!” Leaf shouted and Wigglytuff quickly snatched a hold of some part of Mawile’s body and sent another stifling shock through the steel-type’s body. Mawile stopped its barrage of attacks and let out a grunt of pain. The iron defence really boosted its resistance to a much higher state.

“Crunch!” Georgia called out and her pokémon snaked its large mouth around Wigglytuff and snapped down firmly.

“Dazzling gleam!” Leaf immediately shouted and Wigglytuff shoved its hands directly into the center of Mawile’s body, slamming into it and yanking it free of the crunch. Wigglytuff held Mawile down to the ground and its pink body exploded with a series of bright, blinding lights.

The lights slowly died down, revealing a fainted Mawile and a panting Wigglytuff. It stood back and gently picked up Mawile.

“Mawile is unable to battle, this round goes to Wigglytuff!” Wigglytuff smiled down at the Mawile in its arms and stood before Georgia.

“Wiggly!” It said and raised Mawile to Georgia. Georgia gave the pokémon a small, hard smile and returned Mawile to its pokéball.

Wigglytuff raced back to Leaf and stood before its trainer as the two waited for Georgia’s next pokémon. Georgia took a moment and sent out her next pokémon, a Vanilluxe.

“Vanille!” She cried out cheerily and turned to give her trainer a smile. This pokémon wasn’t often used by Georgia if Ash remembered correctly. Pikachu shifted excitedly on his lap and pointed to Vaniluxe with a smile. Nothing made Ash happier than seeing his own pokémon cheerfully remember another.

“Vanilluxe, hail!” Vanilluxe slowly rose into the air and did slow, continuous spins. Dark clouds skirted the sky and very quickly, chunks of ice pelted from the sky. “Now blizzard!” The winds immediately picked up and made the frigid air even colder. It sent shivers that could reach your very bone. Wigglytuff had no way of avoiding the attack and simply held up its arms to help protect its face even if slightly. “Toxic!” Georgia shouted. A ball of sludge form before Vanilluxe and the ice started to collide with it, melting in the purple acid. Vanilluxe threw the glob of sludge at Wigglytufff, who was still too busy protecting itself from the blizzard. The attack hit head on, and being part fairy, it was super effective. Wigglytuff’s arms fell from its defensive position and the blizzard hit it full throttle, sending it toppling to the ground in defeat.

Leaf smiled down at her pokémon and returned it with a flash of red. “Nidoqueen go!” She called as she quickly tossed out her next pokéball. The giant pokémon stopped on the ground with a loud thud and roared aggressively. “Brick break!” Nidoqueen’s hand flashed into a bright white colour and with immense speed, leapt at Vanilluxe, easily hitting it head on. Vanillluxe was smacked backwards, skidding along the yellow coloured grass. “Smack down!” Nidoqueen stretched her jaw open wide and shot a sparkling-golden sphere directly at Vanilluxe, one again hitting it dead on. Vanilluxe laid on the ground, hail slowly falling from the sky. Its body took on a green glow and its wounds healed before your very eyes. With a jolt, Vanilluxe jumped up and swirled around in the sky once again, a cheerful smile on both of its faces.

Leaf narrowed her eyes and she put a calculating look on Vanilluxe. “Snow cloak…” She said slowly. Georgia looked smug and placed her hand on her hips.

“Vanilluxe and I have been working hard for quite some time; we can now restore its energy much faster than normal.”

Leaf had a small smile make its way onto her face. “I guess we’ll just have to keep hitting you over and over.” She shrugged easily. “Hold Vanilluxe down with brick break and then hit it with earth power.”

Nidoqueen had immense leg muscles obviously, as for a third time it catapulted itself into the air and smashed into Vanilluxe, bringing it down to the ground with it under a glowing white hand. The two landed on the ground with a large bout of dust and a few snowflakes. The ground visibly cracked under the two and Nidoqueen jumped back as sparkling gold pillars erupted from the ground. “Poison jab!” Nidoqueen jumped into the array of rock pillars, with a glowing purple hand now. Nidoqueen landed her hit again and the pillars disappeared around them, sinking back into the ground and restoring itself into its original state. Vanilluxe had fainted.

Georgia scowled and returned her pokémon, quickly sending out her third, a huge Cryogonal. The snowflake pokémon didn’t do much, just lazily floated in the air giving Nidoqueen a firm look.

“Brick break again Nidoqueen.”

Nidoqueen raced towards Cryogonal. “Solar beam!” A glow overtook Cryogonal, it began to absorb as much sun rays as possible. Nidoqueen struck it with the brick break and it did some noticeable damage to the ice type. Nevertheless, it still successfully absorbed all the necessary energy and shot the beam at Nidoqueen, hitting it on the side of its stomach. Nidoqueen grunted at the impact.

“Take down!” Nidoqueen formed the glowing gold sphere in her hands again and fired it at Cryogonal, hitting it dead on like before. Cryogonal flew backwards in the air, but refrained from touching the ground.

Ash frowned and shifted in his spot. “Georgia’s acting weird…” He said, a few people turned to look at him.

“What do you mean?” Iris asked, her voice muffled by the ski mask she was still wearing. “She seems the same to me. Plus you haven’t seen her since you left. I mean neither have I but I’ve seen her more times over the past two years than you have. She seems like the usual Georgia to me.”

Ash furrowed his brows and shook his head. “No, it’s not that. She was doing well with her first pokémon, but ever since that she’s... been different…”

“Maybe from the pressure off the battle?” Misty suggested. “Leaf’s shown that she is still the impeccable battler she was before Team Rocket.”

Ash shook his head. “No, that doesn’t seem right…” He sighed and leaned forward, making sure to keep eye contact on all of Georgia’s movements.

Cryogonal had been knocked out by another of Nidoqueen’s attacks; Nidoqueen had scratched gracing her body and seemed to be in pain, clenching one hand at her side. The next pokémon Georgia sent out was her Beartic. Beartic sent a flurry of attacks at Nidoqueen as instructed by Georgia, making the already tired pokémon faint.

“She doesn’t battle like that…” He muttered. Pikachu looked up at him with a concerned gaze.

When Georgia had instructed harsh attacking on Leaf’s next pokémon, defeating it in the same way as Nidoqueen, Ash stood up. “This battle is over.” He announced and walked up to the battle field. Neither of the two battling women took any notice of him and he quickly stepped up to Leaf. “Put the pokéball back, the battle’s over.”

Leaf looked at him confusedly. “My pokémon will be fine, they can still battle—”

“No it’s over, there’s something wrong.” He took out his own pokéball when Georgia didn’t move. “Talonflame, I choose you!” He told Talonflame to stand by him and not go out onto the field. Talonflame was only there to protect in case something went wrong. “Georgia, return Beartic to her pokéball.” Again Georgia didn’t move.

Suddenly, the temperature began to drastically drop to hazardous degrees. If it wasn’t for his fire-type beside him, he would’ve been shivering. Flame body was a very helpful ability. Georgia seemed to not even notice the puffs of warm breath emitting from her nose, still staring directly at Ash. “Georgia?” He questioned. The ground rumbled deeply and a loud screech pierced the sound barrier, Ash quickly bent forward and covered his ears with his hands as best as he could. He had an eye closed in pain. He looked up at the right moment to see Georgia collapse forward, landing on the ground with a thud.

The screech stopped and he stared at Georgia in disbelief. The noise wasn’t from her, but something was affecting her, badly.

“Georgia!” Burgundy screamed and ran forward to her friend. Clemont was right on her trail. Beartic circled her trainer and let out saddened cries, nudging her with a paw.

Ash’s eyes widened and he whipped his head around to face Iris and Cilan. They looked at him; Iris had fury painted on her features while Cilan was filled to the brim with concern. Iris had pulled off her ski mask and made a mad dash to the front of the pokémon center, Cilan and Ash held each other’s gazes for a moment before racing after her. Leaving the rest in disbelief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo guys! I'm baaaaack! I came home last Monday but I didn't want to write or post anything until yesterday...
> 
> GUESS WHAT TODAY IS?
> 
> FANFICTION WRITER APPRECIATION DAY!
> 
> Today is an important day for me and so many other people! The fanfiction interest has greatly gone down in the padt few years and we don't really get recognised for the work we put into making these stories for you guys as readers to enjoy. As a favour from me and thousands of other fanfiction authors out there, go and say thanksto your favourite writers and give them tons of love for their work! Vote, comment, kudos, do whatever it is you need to do depending on the website the stories are posted on. Share the stories online with the fandom!
> 
> I want you to show your support and personally thank all your favourite authors, one thank you can really brighten a writers day! I really appreciate all the comments and votes I get on all my works and it all thanks to you guys! You don't understand just how important you are to a fandom! Keep spreading the love! I definately love all of you guys!
> 
> I hope your week is amazing and filled with happiness!


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just to let you guys know why it took so long... basically school+work+dance= no time for my other hobbies :'(  
> But it is here! I will never just drop a fanfic so this is here to stay and here to be updated I promise!

[bold]July 8th, 2006[/bold]

Ash sprinted as fast as he could after Iris. Cilan kept up a similar pace just behind him. Ash knew exactly where that cry came from. He’s heard it before, more than just a few times. His mind flashed to the Swords of Justice. He had helped them stop the destruction of Roshan City, and now he was most likely needed as some sort of hero again.

“The Giant Chasm…” He said quietly once he had caught up to Iris in their frantic pursuit of running. The air was bitter, it hurt his lungs with each rapid intake of breath he took, it chilled his very core. His throat stung harshly, a piercing pain you only get from winter exertion. The cry resounded through the air, sending shock waves, making their hair follicles rise.

“Team Plasma has to be in there.” Iris hissed, barely out of breath from their extensive adrenaline induced race to the area, unlike him and a panting Cilan. “I can’t wait to just stick them all in prison and never have to worry about them again.” The frigid chilly air was chopped with the sound of beating wings, from a massive helicopter. “No!” Iris instantly shouted as the big black helicopter rose in the air, more cries could be heard from the inside of the machine. She grabbed a pokéball from her side, unleashing her large Dragonite. She attempted to mount him, ready for flight when Cilan halted her.

“Iris don’t! It’s much too dangerous for you to go up there! That helicopter is hundreds of times bigger than Dragonite.” He said gently, albeit loudly over the reverberating booms from the helicopter wings. Iris gave him a glare, but made no move to argue with the tall man. He was right. “Where could they possibly get a helicopter of that size? Along with being a connoisseur of many things, I am also one for aircrafts; I know for certain that it is definitely of military grade.”

Ash shifted, pulling his hat farther over his ears. “I’ve seen ones like that before, but they were all owned by a person named Hunter J back in Sinnoh. Even though she’s not exactly the kindest person to regular people, I don’t think she’d give her technology to another evil team, or people with a mission that is semi-similar to hers.” Ash explained as they watched helplessly as the helicopter flew away; there was nothing they could do. They could not stop it with one of their pokémon, it was far too large, and if there was some possibility of them being able to reach it and actually destroy it, there was still a chance of the aircraft crashing, hurting people and pokémon in the process.

“I think we should go and see Georgia…” Cilan began, “She’s probably a protector considering the state she was in when undoubtedly Kyruem was being captured.” The helicopter was now out of sight, just a gray clouded sky above, though the noise from it could still be heard.

Iris grumbled and whirled to the two men. “I think you’re right Cilan, though this is unfortunate because she is far too immature to deal with something like this.”

“And you think Ash is any more mature than she is? ” Cilan rebutted, Ash send a wounded look to his tall friend which Cilan ignored. “I always hear you calling him childish, yet I have no doubt in my mind that Ash has some kind of relation to many of the world’s legendary pokémon.”

“I do find Ash to be more mature than Georgia.” She stated shortly, flashing Ash a quick look. “Though he is still a kid and reckless. His personality however, makes him more aware of the responsibility. I do think it is time for him to grow up a little, at least by now, you’re seventeen Ash.”

“Okay, okay!” Ash groaned. “Let’s stop worrying about me growing up and actually go and see Georgia. She’s the one who actually collapsed on the ground!” Then as an afterthought he quietly added. “Plus, she’s more mature than me by one-hundred percent.”

“Ash, she is too driven by her emotions. You can control yours better than she can; she gets upset by very little things—”

“Iris, let’s leave your rivalry out of this okay?” Cilan cut her off, gaining a glare from her. “You are emotionally driven as well, right now is a prime example.”

“I can—”

Cilan cut her off again. “Exactly my point, let’s stop arguing and actually go and check back with Georgia. She needs us no matter how much you dislike her, you have to support her, it’s what a champion does. She’s not on the bad side, she is with us.” Without giving Iris another chance to speak, he began to lead the way, his breath billowing out around his head like a halo.

Iris snorted at the sight; of course it would do just that. Despite his annoying tendencies, Cilan always thought of others before himself in most situations, truly allowing him to be such a kind soul. It was one trait Iris really admired in him, one of the countless reasons as to why she loved him.

[center]*****[/center]

Gary had immediately recognised what was wrong with Georgia. So instead of bringing her to the small Lancunosa Hospital; he insisted for them to carry her back to a spare, warm bedroom in Burgundy’s extravagant home. What had occurred to her was something no hospital could ever deal with, or fully disperse. Medicine was barely an aide, just numbed the feeling a bit so it wasn’t as prominent and distracting.

“Bring up an ice pack, water and acetaminophen please.” He asked, “And another pillow, we should elevate her head more.” He kept shifting her body around on the bed, taking care of her head. He knew how to set her in the best possible way. Her skin was chilled and was becoming a pale colour from lack of heat, yet she showed no signs of hypothermia.

“She’ll be okay right?” Burgundy asked genuine worry was planted into her voice as it shook slightly. Gary could see how close the two women were. Good friends he assumed.

“She’s only fainted,” He assured her. “She was in a trance before and wasn’t all there with us like it seemed. I know what I’m doing and go get that stuff, she needs it.” He didn’t want to explain everything without having Ash, Iris and Cilan there. Those three were big members in the entirety of what was going on, he just knew it. Another feeling, like Lugia was still calling out to him even being regions apart.

Burgundy gave a quick nod and left the room at a quick pace. Clemont came over and kneeled next to him, feeling her forehead and standing up to carefully feel around her skull. “I was the designated group doctor in Kalos,” he explained. “Had to deal with quite a few things.” Gary moved back so Clemont could look. Honestly, Gary did in fact wish that Brock was here. The man now being a pokémon doctor, he could really help out with the group. The way Brock was, he just brought people in together, bringing a homey feeling to wherever they could be. Growing up travelling, Gary didn’t much understand Brock, only seeing him as a failed gym leader, leaving his position and fawning over every girl he ever spotted other than Misty. Now, Brock finally settling down with one of the planets strongest trainers, Pike Queen Lucy Morinelli. He’s seen them together; Brock frequently came and visited his place to check up on the many pokémon his grandfather watched over. Gary could very much see how Brock and Lucy fit together, even with a gap in age. They were what you could call a power couple, bringing in Lucy’s fame, possibly a celebrity power couple that people dreamed of becoming. One thing Gary knew for sure was that the two would stay together happily unlike most celebrity couples. To name a few, Wallace and Winona, though that was mostly based on sexual preference realization, The Pyramid King Brandon and his wife… There were also countless others from varying degrees of jobs, from musicians, to actors, to gym leaders and such.

“Like a delusional fevered Ash.” Serena added, walking to the other side of the bed, her hands were clasped together over her chest. Gary looked up, startling slightly as he broke out of his thoughts.

“Yes, that was a fun experience,” Clemont grated out, sarcasm dripping heavily in his voice. “At least this time we’re in a town which gives us easy access to a pharmacy and hospital instead in the middle of a forest because Ash wanted to be stupid and train in the river.” He used the back of his hand to push his glasses up from the bottom. Seeing the movement made Gary do the same. Clemont stood up, “Gary’s right, she’ll be fine, just a goose egg, no skull fractures or anything.” He confirmed.

“Goose egg?” Dawn questioned.

Serena flicked her blue eyes onto her. “A bump on the head, we call them goose eggs in Kalos.”

“What’s a goose?” May asked, bringing attention to her. She was sitting on a plush seat at the side of the room; Misty was perched on one arm and Leaf on the next.

“A bird family,” Gary said. “Kind of like a Swanna? It’s hard to explain. They existed a long time ago.”

"They found a few remains in Kalos; nothing could really be done to them like any other fossils. They just had eggs around the same size as a bump on your head would be." Clemont said. “They weren’t pokémon, different cell type, the same as ours.”

Burgundy returned with the asked items, handing each one off to Gary one at a time, listing them verbally as well to make sure she had everything.

"She can't exactly take the acetaminophen right now so I'll just leave it on the bedside." He gently lifted up her head and placed the third pillow under it, lightly placing the extra blanket over her as well and stood up.

"Would the battle have any kind of influence on what happened to her?" Leaf asked. She was rubbing her arm with her left hand. "I didn't really notice the difference until Ash butted in."

"You just don't know her fighting style." Gary reasoned with a smile and pushed his glasses up his nose back into their original place. "It's fine that you didn't see it, very understandable. I don't think the battle would have any big impact, but it could've helped a bit possibly by connecting her more with pokémon. Still I have an idea on what happened and still I don't really understand it so I can't make any final assumptions."

Leaf nodded. "Okay, I was just making sure I didn't do anything wrong." She had a calm smile on her face, a relieved smile.

"No you're fine." Gary promised. Seeing her smile cause one from him, one that hopefully expressed his reassurance fully.

Leaf nodded again, "Okay good. I wanted to make sure." She fiddled with the edge of Gary’s sweater which she was still wearing. “Being back with people has made me a little more aware of myself, some social anxiety if you will… I just don’t want to do anything stupid that could hurt others around me.”

Dawn appeared behind her with a wide grin. “There’s no need to worry!” She promised with a wink. “You’re probably one of the most caring people here if I do say so myself.” She laughed lightly. “So honestly, don’t think about that kind of stuff too much, none of us will really be bothered by it, we’ve all seen and heard worse on our journeys no doubt. What you have said can barely hurt a cutiefly!” She then visibly remembered something, her mouth forming an ‘o’. She whipped around to look at Gary, her blue hair splaying out around her in the action. "I wanted to ask, what is your assumption?"

Gary couldn’t help but let his smile broaden. Dawn was truly a gift to them. Between her and Serena, they were definitely the kindest and friendliest of them all. They could brighten anybody’s day with a simple greeting in the morning. "I think she's the same as me and Lyra… like the rest of us here." He gestured to everybody but Burgundy. “She’s a protector as well. It’s the only think that seems reasonable to me.

"But she wasn't in Olympia's prophecy." Paul cut in, speaking for the first time. He was leaning in the doorway, his coat discarded and only in his gray khakis and black t-shirt. Paul’s arms were crossed firmly over his chest, still holding that reserved air. Gary held back a laugh when he could see some very brightly patterned socks on his feet, so unfitting of his character.

"Things can change. Nothing will directly follow what it’s told no matter what it is, destiny or not.” The group looked over to the doorway; Iris, Cilan and Ash were standing there, Cilan was the one who had spoken. Sweat dripped down Ash's face and left a trail down his neck. Dawn wrinkled her nose in response.

"Go shower please." There was a snort of laughter from Misty at the comment. Ash didn’t glance her way but Dawn did and a small smile danced across her face.

Ash gave her a cheeky grin. "No way."

"You're disgusting."

"I'm fine with that. It's literally the exact same as it would've been when we travelled in Sinnoh." He shrugged. Ash always brought in some sort of comic relief to a situation, it was very refreshing.

Dawn grimaced and looked away. "That doesn't change the fact that you're disgusting right now."

"But I'm not disgusting any other time?" He carefully slinked closer to the blue haired girl.

"Most times, yes." Dawn responded flatly. There were a few hushed laughs at that comment.

"Okay so anyway," Iris started. "That cry we heard was Kyurem, one of the legendary dragons in Unova. It was being taken in a helicopter by none other than Team Plasma. So we need to think of a way to beat their asses and get Kyurem back." She was visibly seething with anger. Like a little dog pokémon, the smaller ones were usually more aggressive, and Iris was smaller than the rest.

Voiding his last thoughts, Gary asked, "So then I'm guessing I'm right?"

Iris walked in and stood over the bed. "It's out best bet. Georgia is an ice type specialist. She's wanted to reopen the ice type gym in Iccarus City. Kyurem lives in the Giant Chasm, its part ice type. So if ice is Georgia's speciality it would make sense plus the fact that we are all legendary protectors."

"But she wasn't listed with us." Dawn said with a frown, repeating what Paul had said only moments ago. She was standing near him now. "Why is Kyurem in trouble and not whichever legendary that the two of us are protecting?"

"Kris, Ethan, Silver, Ritchie... none of them were listed, and Lugia's child was in danger just as much as Lugia and Ho-Oh were, Celebi as well, that's why Sammy was there." Ash explained. "Could prophecies change over time? Even if we don’t know about it?"

"Possibly," Clemont stated, "Only if we greatly change it in some way… but what could change it so drastically? I’m not sure.”

The group was silent as they pondered.

"We ran into Jessie, James, and Meowth?" Serena said. “Gary, Paul, Dawn and I.”

"What did they do?" Serena perked up at Iris’ question.

"Told us where the uniforms were. They weren't happy with what Team Rocket was doing so they left the battle instead of defending the building. They helped us when they shouldn’t have, they were going against orders and what they usually stand for and believe in. They realized that what their jobs were, they were wrong."

"No I don't think that would be it..." Ash trailed off. "They've been good people before in the past, gone against orders too."

Misty stiffened, "What if… what if… Khoury? What if Khoury wasn't supposed to die?"

"He was stationed there since this whole thing started." Iris frowned.

Paul shifted his weight and leaned against the dresser on the wall closest to the door. “What if everything that’s happening with Georgia is just the start for whoever the two prophesied protectors are? Kyurem isn’t necessarily in immediate danger, just used as bait to attract others. Things like this have happened before. It’s not like it’s the first time evil organizations have attempted something regarding the legendary pokémon of their given region.” He stood up straighter. “What I think is that the reason that we are being called on now is because the world really is in danger. Before, all those chances were just trials for the teams. It’s been years since most have ‘disbanded’. Their leaders and admins gone missing, they were really just hiding to prepare for now.”

“What if they were all under one leader? There are a few leaders known to be dead, and one was for sure in prison until now. Maybe Ghetsis broke out with the help from not his team, but another?” Cilan suggested.

"That could actually be possible." Iris agreed. Burgundy sat on the edge of Georgia's bed, her head looking between everyone in the room one at a time. She still didn't quite understand the situation and didn't expect to ever at this point really.

There was a low moan from Georgia as she attempted to sit up. Almost immediately Clemont and Gary were pushing her back down on the bed, handing her a glass of water and some medication. "What the hell?" Georgia grumbled, taking hold of the two items being held out to her. "Why is my head pounding and why am I in bed?”

“Do you not remember what happened on the battlefield?" Cilan asked worriedly.

"Yes…? I remember, I was battling Leaf, we weren't close to finishing so why am I here?"

"Could she have amnesia from hitting her head while falling?" Serena chirped.

Georgia blinked from her spot, quickly looking around at everybody in the room. "What do you mean I fell? I definitely do not remember that.”

Burgundy sighed. "This will be a fun story to go over…”

Georgia's green eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Just tell me what happened. Did we go out or something after? Did I get hammered or what?”

Ash awkwardly scratched his head. "So you know how Gary is connected to Lugia?"

"Yes..." She replied slowly.

"Well it's kind of the same situation for you, except it’s with Kyurem."

Georgia frowned, "You’ve got to be kidding me." She wrinkled her nose. “I mean that’s fine but me? What the f—”

"You're not at all concerned?" Drew cut her off.

Georgia waved a hand haphazardly. "Not too worried, I mean, who else is better for the job than me? An ice type specialist?" She gave Iris a look.

Iris rolled her eyes, "Of course that's your reaction."

"Well it's not like there's much I can do about it. I can't exactly say, ‘no thanks Kyurem, I don't want this job, sorry bro’."

"Yeah but wouldn't you worry just a little?" Cilan reasoned.

"There's no point." She shrugged, taking her water, going in for another drink. "Really why bother?"

"Well I can think of a few reasons as to why."

"Well I guess those reasons don't matter then." Georgia rebuked. "Like I said, there's not much option or choice for me so if I have to be it then I have to be it. There's no way of getting out of it as I assume?"

Drew shook his head. "If there was a way out, we haven't found it yet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So no Drew aint super annoyed by the fact that he's a legendary protector, just kinda concerned because hey anybody can die at any given time right?
> 
> Also I headcannon that our world, current day Earth, is a past to the pokemon world. I think it's been confirmed that they're seprate but in the OS they had random normal dogs and cats and fish.
> 
> Also by the refrence to goose eggs, I hinted in there that pokemon have a different cell structure than the basic archae and bacteria, their cells are an entirely different kind. Same kind of processes, but entirely new, explaining why they have powers and such.
> 
> Also....
> 
> POKEMON SUN AND MOON NEXT FRIDAY!
> 
> That is all! Have a lovely week guys! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Suuuuuper short prologue hehehehe


End file.
